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22 December 2024
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On December 9, 1983, the Hawke Labor Government made the momentous decision to float the Australian dollar. This looks back at the history behind the decision and how it's served the country well since.
Paul Keating envisaged a super system which funded retirement. For many, it has become a tax shelter where wealth is captured and passed on to descendants and the role of the family home is substantially overlooked.
Did anyone tell the Treasurer that if he had replaced the $5 note with a $5 coin, he could have saved $1 billion? The Government makes a profit from minting coins but we still need to decide whose face we want.
It makes sense to have long-term savings directed to financing long-term investments and short-term savings (which involve liquidity risk for the institutions accepting them) invested in shorter term investments.
Paul Keating not only designed compulsory superannuation but in the 30 years since its introduction, he has maintained the rage. Here are highlights of three articles on SG's origins and two more recent interviews.
The solutions to retirement problems are obvious. All we need are 'efficiency' and 'flexibility'. Learn what these two words mean and the future of superannuation policy is clear. Just don't tell Paul Keating.
The Retirement Income Review demonstrated limited understanding of the risks faced by self-funded retirees implementing rational human behaviour. Spending to qualify for the age pension is not a solution.
Paul Keating is the champion of compulsory superannuation as the central means of funding retirement. In the wake of the Retirement Income Review, he is at his passionate best defending the system, with Leigh Sales.
‘It's your money’ flouts the strict superannuation access rules we have accepted since 1992, and many are putting short-term wants ahead of long-term needs. Is this the best outcome for 2.6 million people?
The design of superannuation is part of a social contract, and people who do not understand the long-term context are often offended that super funds should be tax-free in retirement. Don't blame Peter Costello.
Life expectancies have increased dramatically since the nineties, but the uncertainty is forcing retirees to live too frugally. The super industry is switching its attention to the drawdown phase to find better solutions.
702 ABC Sydney listeners have selected their archive favourites of '10 guests from 10 years' of Conversations with Richard Fidler. This week, they played an interview with Paul Keating. Lots of fun.
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Firstlinks’ co-founder and former Managing Editor, Graham Hand, has died aged 66. Graham was a legendary figure in the finance industry and here are three tributes to him.
Last year, I wrote an article suggesting returns from ASX stocks would trample those from housing over the next decade. One year later, this is an update on how that forecast is going and what's changed since.
Australia is in the early throes of an intergenerational wealth transfer worth an estimated $3.5 trillion. Here's a case study highlighting some of the challenges with transferring wealth between generations.
The Future Fund's original purpose was to meet the unfunded liabilities of Commonwealth defined benefit schemes. These liabilities have ballooned to an estimated $290 billion and taxpayers continue to be treated like fools.
ASFA provides a key guide for how much you will need to live on in retirement. Unfortunately it has many deficiencies, and the averages don't tell the full story of the growing gender superannuation gap.
The Big Four banks have had an extraordinary run and it’s left income investors with a conundrum: to stick with them even though they now offer relatively low dividend yields and limited growth prospects or to look elsewhere.