Latest News

Two of Australia's largest banks announced they were launching a no interest credit card within 24 hours of each other, a move which has been interpreted as their going head to head with the buy now, pay later (BNPL) services which have been attracting customers in droves. Rather than accruing interest, both CBA's CommBank Neo card and NAB's StraightUp card require the user to pay a flat monthly fee – but only when the card is used, so if a customer has a $0 balance in a given month, they would be exempt.

Read more

A sharp increase in new home sales has been attributed to a bump in sentiment from the federal government's HomeBuilder scheme. According to the Housing Industry Association's (HIA) latest survey of the largest volume home builders in Australia's five largest states, new home sales (contract to build) increased 61.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to August 2020.

Read more

With an aging population, an increasing number of Australians are opting to live in retirement villages. While pitched at the 'over-55s', the average age of entry is 75, and average age of residents is 81. Depending on the retirement village, attractions include having home maintenance issues taken care of, more social contact, access to recreational facilities and on call assistance in case of medical emergency.

Read more

As most long-term investors know, investment markets have their ups and downs. The downs are usually associated with periods of uncertainty, perhaps due to political or economic factors, or even natural disasters. Uncertainty leads to volatility – more extreme movements in asset prices – which can have a big impact on portfolio values.

Read more