FINANCIAL YEAR 2017: REPORTING SEASON INSIGHTS AND IMPLICATIONS This extract has been drawn from the article produced on 20th September 2017, by Roy Maslen, Chief Investment Officer—Australian Equities, AllianceBernstein Q: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Telstra (TLS) captured a lot of attention this reporting season. What are your thoughts on them, and do they […]

Many people who make resolutions, unfortunately set themselves up to fail. This may be due to a combination of factors such as unrealistic expectations, ill-defined goals and objectives, poor time management, the wrong mindset or simply just getting distracted with life. In our experience it is far more important to simply start the journey of […]

The Australian apartment market has been the subject of much speculation recently. Questions of oversupply have hung over the market as the number of under construction apartments has rocketed. This oversupply potentially paints a negative outlook for property developers, with oversupplied markets tending to experience falling prices and profits. Rolling twelve months commencements excluding houses Source: […]

Did you know that on average it takes a recipient of inheritance 19 days until they buy a new car? What are your thoughts on whether this a financially-savvy way to spend an inheritance? In our busy lives talking about money with our family members may prove to be a daunting and sometimes an emotional […]

As a financial planner in Western Sydney for over ten years, this is a question I have been asked so many times that I thought it was worthy of writing a piece about how to answer that question as simply as possible. Just only last week I had the pleasure of meeting with a young married […]

Are you planning a renovation? Renovating a property is more than just a pure financial decision. It can have significant implications not only for your cash flow, but also for your lifestyle. So before you get going take stock and make sure you’ve considered everything. To help make renovating more of breeze, and less of […]

With interest rates in Australia dropping to an all time low earlier this month, and the likelyhood of more to come, we draw on the expertise of the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) to look at some of the reasons why currency movements seem counter intuitive at the moment thus reinforcing it as one of the hardest […]

Retirement is a time to enjoy the fruits of your many year’s of labour, not a time to scrimp and save. You need to make sure you have enough personal savings and in your superannuation to make your retirement a comfortable one. At this stage of life, you shouldn’t have children to worry about, may […]

“How do I generate my required return in a low return, high volatility world?” While a lot of investors are currently dealing with the same question, there are some big differences in their responses. Some fall victim to the ‘cycle of investor emotions’, becoming hostage to their ‘lizard brain’ where fight and flight responses either […]

Downsizing in Retirement: A planner’s perspective (Robert De Ceglie) I recently spoke at a seminar on this very topic and here’s a few of the discussion points I raised at this event, which I have learned through experience both as the son of elderly parents and as a financial planner. Downsizing is such a huge […]