Straight-talking notes on super, tax, markets and making the most of your money.
Inflation is 4.0% and the cash rate is 4.60%. The official numbers show most of the rise is home-grown, about 69% of it is in must-haves, and a large share is set or funded by governments. What is in your control, what is not, and what would fix it.
Continue reading → Download the PDF →Oil is over US$100, bond yields are at a three-year high and super balances have gone backwards. Since 1984 the Australian market has fallen more than 10% from a high in 17 separate episodes and finished higher after every one. Missing just ten of its best days would have cost 42% of the final result, and 18 of the 20 best days happened while the market was more than 10% below its high.
Continue reading → Open the interactive note →Your will does not control your super - the fund’s trustee does. Most binding nominations lapse after three years, and insurance inside super is switched off after sixteen months without a contribution. ASIC found 78% of death benefit claims were delayed by the fund’s own processes. Here is what to check.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓A comfortable retirement costs a couple $78,566 a year and takes $730,000 in super - far less than most people guess, because a part Age Pension does a lot of the work. Here is what that buys week by week, what Australians actually have, and whether you are on track.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Labor has backed down a second time on the 30% family trust tax. The draft legislation lets you avoid the tax entirely without restructuring and without stamp duty - but only by fixing your beneficiaries and their shares permanently, with a 47% penalty if you ever vary them.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Australia has no inheritance tax, with one exception nobody mentions. Super left to an adult child is taxed on the way out, and for many families it is the largest single tax their family will ever pay. What it costs, why the word “dependant” means two different things, and the levers that are only available while you are alive.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓The 50% capital gains discount is being replaced from 1 July 2027, and plenty of people are being told to sell before the deadline. For most long-held assets that advice is wrong - the Act protects the gain you have already accrued, and rushing a sale usually costs you money for nothing.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Family money now underwrites a huge share of first homes in Australia. How to help your children buy without creating a legal, tax or retirement problem - gift versus loan, going guarantor, the Age Pension gifting rules, and the toolkit for helping well.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓The countdown to the residential LRBA ban is creating real pressure to buy before the door closes. Why rushing a property purchase inside super is risky, the refinancing trap nobody is talking about, what stays available for commercial property, and the options that remain after the deadline.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Treasury's consultation paper on the 30% minimum tax on family trust distributions confirms CGT relief for families who restructure - but says nothing about state stamp duty, and WA is one of the worst-placed states. Here's what it means if your family has a trust.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓A new financial year brings a raft of changes to tax, super, wages and small-business rules. Here's a plain-English guide to the eleven most likely to touch your finances - and what each could mean for you.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓The Federal Government has agreed to ban new borrowing by super funds to buy residential property - in practice affecting SMSFs, the only funds that use these arrangements. Here's what's changing and what it means.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Winter 2026 quarterly newsletter: investing for the next generation, retirement income options when markets are volatile, and the art of leaning into winter.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Last night's Federal Budget contained some of the most sweeping tax reforms Australia has seen in decades - framed as rebalancing the system so wage earners aren't treated very differently from others. Here's what the major changes mean for you.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓The Cook Labor Government's 2026-27 State Budget, themed "Delivering for WA", leads with more than $1 billion in cost-of-living relief against a backdrop of global uncertainty and rising fuel prices. Here's what it means for WA families.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Periods of market volatility can feel uncomfortable, but both history and fundamentals suggest staying disciplined is the right approach. Here's some perspective on what we're seeing.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our earlier quarterly newsletters, rebranded for the archive - read online or download the PDF.
Our Autumn 2025 quarterly newsletter looks at the generation redefining ageing and living later years boldly, how a transition-to-retirement strategy can help you ease into retirement, and how to keep a cool head navigating turbulent times in the share market.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Summer 2024-25 quarterly newsletter: reining in festive-season spending and tackling debt, helping adult children without derailing your own retirement, and enduring lessons from the world's best investors.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Spring 2024 quarterly newsletter: practical ideas for a spring clean of your professional and personal life, a side-by-side comparison of four retirement income options, and why DIY does not always pay off with your finances.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Winter 2024 quarterly newsletter: what a modest versus comfortable retirement really costs and how to build your nest egg, practical help for the ‘sandwich generation’ caring for kids and parents, and why staying invested beats reacting when markets turn uncertain.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Autumn 2024 quarterly newsletter: the revised Stage 3 tax cuts arriving 1 July 2024 and what they mean for your planning, the main options for using your super in retirement, and medically backed ways to age well.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Summer 2023-24 quarterly newsletter: matching your life insurance cover to each stage of life, planning an adult gap year without derailing your finances, and simple ways to keep yourself accountable.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Spring 2023 quarterly newsletter: boosting your super with a lump sum, using life insurance as a financial safety net, and the latest superannuation rule changes and whether they affect you.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Winter 2023 quarterly newsletter: practical steps to start the new financial year well, a plain-English look at how interest rates move your investments, and how to spot the scams doing the rounds.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Our Winter 2022 quarterly newsletter: the July super rule changes for older and younger Australians, how to manage rising interest rates and mortgage repayments, and preparing well for the next chapter of retirement.
Continue reading → Download PDF ↓Book a complimentary, no-obligation chat - we'll listen first, then show you what's possible.