Paid work in some respects does have advantages – every week you know what you get to take home and the risk is taken by your employer. Can you say that about your own business? No. These are the trade-offs when we make our choices. Having said that, the disadvantages in paid…[Read more]

The two great factors influencing the economy at present are the end of the housing boom and the continuation of the resources boom.

These factors show how the economy’s source of growth is in the process of shifting from the domestic engine to the external engine. They also…[Read more]

Paul Barry has hunted down some elusive villains in his time, but this one — King Con — takes the cake. He’s been feted as one of Australia’s richest men, a property developer with a taste for the high life. A couple of penthouses worth $12 million, a Mercedes that cost another million. But the man’s a crook. He’s ripped of…[Read more]

VAST numbers of Australians are now spending more than $1000 a week on housing, food and clothes — and, increasingly, on new technologies such as mobile telephones, text messaging, the internet and pay-TV.

In some states, spending on such new technologies has increased…[Read more]

RESERVE Bank governor Ian Macfarlane has ruled out any move on interest rates in the near term, saying an interest rate cut is just as likely as an increase.

Inflation was largely under control, the economy was moving along well, and the global economy was strong, Mr Macfarlane said in…[Read more]

THE proportion of Australian households saving some of their income has fallen in the past six months, suggesting a decline in their financial capabilities and an addiction to credit cards.

The latest ING Direct Melbourne Institute Household Saving and Investment Report shows in the past two quarters…[Read more]

Shareholders in mining companies are reaping huge profits and collecting big dividend cheques. Employees in the mining industry are rising in numbers and…[Read more]

Falls in house prices were recorded for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in the June quarter.

HOUSE prices are falling in Australia’s big cities, while the resources boom is pushing prices sharply higher in the west, according to an index of house prices.

A new housing price…[Read more]

â– “Recent economic data continue to suggest that domestic demand is growing more slowly this year than it was in 2004.”

â– “Households now seem to have entered a phase in which they are consolidating their balance sheets, borrowing less and increasing their spending less quickly than they were a year or…[Read more]

First home buyers are being outbid by investors for homes, writes Tim Colebatch.

Melbourne and Sydney are Australia’s global cities: its creative hubs, its centres of finance, business, research, innovation, sport, entertainment and fun. They should be magnets pulling young…[Read more]

The fertility rate (children per couple) has been hovering around 1.1 to 1.3 for over a decade. One of the lowest in the world.

I have read that there are parts of Japan, where children can hardly…[Read more]

You are doing well.

You might be pleased to know that even Warren Buffett keeps his car for 10 years before he buys a new one.

In today’s media:

Men’s life crises at age 25
04-08-2005
From: The Daily Telegraph

Doubt .. these days men are suffering mid-life crisis as early as age 25.

TO qualify for a mid-life crisis, a man used to…[Read more]

By Ross Gittins, The Age newspaper
August 3, 2005

“What do you do with your money after you have moved to a bigger and better house, acquired a whopping mortgage and the price of petrol is going through the roof? Buy a new car, of course.

You haven’t bought one lately? Oh dear. You’d better look…[Read more]

Hi Kendo,

I only “drop in” to this forum once a while. My previous work was stated in my previous post in this thread. Now, I am merely an investor.

I enjoy reading. I find it helps me to understand the world I live in, a…[Read more]

Also, a cover story in today’s BRW on the trend towards self employment.

I also agree that when it hits, the highly geared are likely to suffer financially, as happened in every previous recession.

However, between now and when it hits (2006 or later – just keep an eye on interest rates and rising…[Read more]

The mining boom and stock market boom have contributed a huge amount of liquidity into the economy. Western Australia is booming. QLD and SA also receiving gains from the mining boom.

Interest rates remain reasonable (albeit high relative to international…[Read more]

“Forget the boom-time budget. We are living way beyond our means.

It’s a strength of the Bracks Government that it understood what its predecessor achieved and kept up its legacy. It’s a weakness of the Howard Government that it never understood what…[Read more]

“A SECRET database of suspect financial transactions by tens of thousands of Australians is being maintained by federal regulators.

The database is being shared with state and federal law enforcement agencies, privacy advocates claim. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis…[Read more]

In 2003 and the first quarter of 2004, Japan carried out a remarkable experiment in monetary policy – remarkable in the impact it had on the global economy and equally remarkable in that it went almost entirely unnoticed in the financial press. Over those 15 months, monetary auth…[Read more]

Another book that explores similar issues is “Status Anxiety” written by Alain de Botton, which I read last year.

The extent of…[Read more]

200 years of Economic History indicate that economic cycles do occur.

At some time in the future, there will an economic downturn. When it happens and how severe it will be; are questions that I do not believe anyone can say with any…[Read more]

Bubbles come and bubbles go. Those of us who have lived through them would know they can be harmless if one lives in moderation.

Example, the tech boom and later tech bust, had no effect on me as I merely ignored it.

Previous corrections in property cycles and share market bubbles did…[Read more]

To each, his or her own.

To me, we only get to live once and I prefer to enjoy life within reasonable boundaries. To live like a miser is not the way for me. What is the point of having millions of net worth and…[Read more]

Commercial and industrial properties generally fell around 30% to…[Read more]

Ask your daughter whether she would like to read the following about the best investor the world has ever seen:

“Warren Edward Buffett was born on 30 August 1930. He jokingly says that he was conceived during the fall of the 1929 stock market crash because his stockbroker father had so little to do then.

At the age of six, he…[Read more]

1. Security Analysis (Graham and Dodd – recommended by Warren Buffett)
2. The Intelligent Investor (Graham – Buffett’s mentor)
3. The Essays of Warren Buffett (words of wisdom from the man himself)
4. Warren Buffett Speaks
5. The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett and George Soros
6. Warren…[Read more]

Ask her to consider depositing the money into BankWest’s internet savings a/c for 6% p.a.

This is what my son does with his money ($25,000) until I teach him about shares when he is old enough.

This is probably a risk free return if she wants to avoid risk of losing money.

Investing into shares without any adequate knowledge can…[Read more]

I watch ABC and SBS news most nights and watch Business Sunday and Alan Kohler’s business program on ABC on Sundays. Sometimes, I also watch documentaries like 4 Corners, The Cutting Edge, Foreign Correspondent and 60 minutes (depending on the issues – not the celebrities caption which I ignore and no, I did not follow…[Read more]

I enjoy retirement. Not bored at all.

Live in Melbourne. I read a lot – subscribe to The Age, Herald Sun, Financial Review, BRW, Shares Magazine, The…[Read more]

“MELBOURNE has suffered its most high-profile apartment project collapse as the inner city’s high-rise market continues to unravel.

The $120 million project, planned…[Read more]