Paul's Insights

Parents around the nation will breathe a collective sigh of relief over the next few days as their kids return to school. But the respite may only last until the first batch of bills arrive.

The New Year is a time of celebration but it also has a reputation for being a peak period for separation and divorce.

Eight out of ten Australians made a New Year resolution for 2020, and almost one in four vowed to get out of debt.

2019 hasn't been a bad year for investors. And with the holiday season likely to bring some downtime, the next few weeks can be the ideal opportunity to fine-tune your finances so that the New Year delivers real prosperity. The key is to start small.

Christmas is full of traditions, and some investors will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Santa Claus rally - the uptick in shares often seen in the final trading days of the year. Is it a coincidence or is the Santa Claus rally real?

The days of coins clinking in our pockets could be numbered, with one in four Australians saying they don't carry cash. New payment options are gaining traction but they don't always work in consumers' favour.

It's official - Australia's army of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) makes up one of the biggest like-minded group of investors on the Australian sharemarket.

Human beings can be a funny lot. On one hand the Australian Tax Office (ATO) receives around 230 tip-offs each day about businesses operating in the black economy. Yet vast numbers of Australians are being ripped off on their super each year, and many of us do nothing about it.

I often have conversations with clients around investing when they retire. Many treat retirement as an 'end date' for active investing. But that shouldn't be the case. And keeping an eye on the cost of investing is especially important when we leave the workforce.

One mistake the team at InvestSMART often see, is people holding investments that don't match personal goals.

The biggest hurdle to buying a first home is often saving a deposit. But you may not need a 20% deposit, and it can be worth checking out every option at a time when property values are more affordable and we're seeing home loan interest rates below 3.0%.

Here at InvestSMART we encourage investors to embrace low fee investment choices. But plenty of Australians could be paying more than necessary on their home loan at a time when interest rates are the lowest in 70 years.

Nine in ten Australian adults are members of a loyalty scheme, and the chance to score a freebie can be very appealing. But consumers aren't the real winners of these schemes.

Human beings love to save money. Yet when it comes to investing, we often pay high fees in the belief that this will lead to higher returns. Over time though, fees can have a devastating impact on our wealth.

As investors, we all like to think that we're making rational choices. But it's amazing how our moods can drive investment decisions.

What a crazy world we live in. A new market index has been launched that measures the impact of US President Donald Trump's tweets on global asset markets.