Living longer does not necessarily translate into financial freedom. The hope is that you can work longer and therefore have more savings for your retirement, but people have less income-earning years.
Managing for real returns
There is a significant leadership opportunity for super funds to manage real return risk, where the inflation risk represents a potential erosion of retirement outcomes.
Supersize and individual reporting for members
Super funds should provide a calculation of a member’s actual average return over their period of membership based on their own personal cash flow of contributions and fees experienced.
Australia’s economic future, with Dr Ken Henry
The Australian businesses likely to succeed in the Asian century are those that provide goods or services to the 3.2 billion middle-class consumers living in Asia within 15 years.
What export boom?
This will challenge your way of thinking: Australia is one of the smallest exporters as a percentage of GDP in the world, and therefore one of the least reliant on exports for our national income. But we’re addicted to imports.
Term deposit investors did not understand the risk
Investors in term deposits have taken major risks without realising it. As interest rates have fallen, people who expected term deposits to give them a reliable income stream are facing a challenging time.
What does the new charity regulator mean for trustees?
A new charity regulator was established a few months ago, and thousands of directors and trustees of foundations and not-for-profits need to understand the implications.
The characteristics of Australian retirees
As more Australians move from the accumulation saving to retirement spending, it is vital that planners and product providers realise Australian retirees’ needs have changed.
Work life balance is about planning your priorities
A good life balance is about setting priorities. Some people love work, it energises them, it adds meaning to their life. But it can be a disaster if they lose sight of other priorities.
Understand yourself before you understand the market
How people behave and react can have a significant impact on their overall success as an investor. It pays to understand your own emotional responses.
Health check for end-of-year tax planning
It’s time to conduct a detailed financial review of your tax affairs, focusing on your marginal tax rate, delaying receipts and advancing expenditures. Two weeks from now, it will be too late for another year.
Overview of global fund investment trends
The big global trends in funds management are a move from equities to fixed interest, from active to index, a reduction in fund commissions, and increased dominance of the biggest managers.
Historical real return outcomes based on current default portfolios
The biggest threat to a retirement portfolio is loss of value in real terms. The superannuation industry should focus on real returns and real volatility before inflation strikes again.
The Banking and Finance Oath is a tough ask
The Oath has laudable aims which everyone in the banking and finance industry should support. But the public will take some convincing, and maybe some executives are not believers either.
Click 'Next' to go to hundreds of archived articles on investing.
