Money Magazine

I was horrified to read in your women’s issue Phil Slade’s “inconvenient”-to-suggest observation (March 2022) that agreeableness is a biological personality trait found more in women than men and therefore women are less likely to negotiate on salary

One of the most intense times in a game of tennis is the match point. This is when a player only needs one more point to win the match. Conversely, it is also the time when one false move can be costly.  In applying for a home loan, that “match point

The temptation of a baristacrafted brew is one I give into daily. But for some, the morning coffee ritual may come with a shot of budget anxiety.  An average “cup of Joe” could cost cafe goers $7 by the end of the year, according to David Parnham, pr

Australians are wary of dumping their bank even when it might benefit their account balances, according to financial comparison site Mozo. In a survey of more than 1000 people, 73% of respondents claimed to have never changed banks, making them more

About $25 billion in coastal residential property faces high risk from erosion and rising sea levels, according to a new CoreLogic assessment. Drawing on location analytics and three decades of shoreline movements, it put more than 900,000 homes into

Meta shares have taken a pummelling in 2022, dropping by 30% to an almost two-year low in March. This came after a February earnings release showed the company’s user base had stopped growing in the final quarter of 2021. The parent company to Facebo

Australians could soon have access to a bank-backed cryptocurrency following a recent move by ANZ to mint its own stablecoin, called A$DC. A first for an Australian bank, A$DC is pegged to the value of the Australian dollar, which means it can offer

When Mina Nada moved to Singapore five years ago, he got around on shared electric bikes. Locals had already taken to them in a big way, and he quickly realised they were faster than an Uber and cheaper than a bus ticket. “They were fun, and good for

Whether you’re driving east from Melbourne or south from Sydney, the Gippsland region of Victoria beckons this autumn. Stretching from Phillip Island to the Gippsland Lakes and Wilsons Promontory National Park, the region boasts great food and wines

Paul, I featured in one of your issues in 2019 with my wife Melissa regarding a possible property investment in regional Western Australia. Sadly, my marriage has ended and I am back in the big city. I used the money from my divorce to pay off all my

Picture this: you earn a decent income, you’ve saved hard, and now you’re ready to apply for a home loan. But the lender knocks you back. The reason? You have a poor credit score Whenever you apply for credit – be it a home loan, credit card, a new

A few sensible strategies can help to keep your credit score healthy. Not so long ago, only negative details, like missed loan repayments, were noted on credit records. That changed in 2017 when comprehensive credit reporting (CCR) was introduced. It

Chris Peters*, 26, first checked his credit score when he graduated from university five years ago. He was shocked to see how low it was. “I’d never had any sort of debt, so I expected the score to be really high. But it was around the low 600s, whic

Kayla Harris* has a secret only her closest friends know: She is a discharged bankrupt – and it was the result of sexually transmitted debt. Eight years ago, Kayla and her (then) boyfriend took out a home loan in joint names to buy a property in regi

THE WORLD OF DEBT has changed dramatically over the past few decades. It is hard to believe that the first widely available credit card in Australia was Bankcard, which only launched in December 1974. This was a very good thing for me and those born

It’s bad enough that women face a gender pay gap approaching 14%. But the $255 average weekly pay difference between women and men can be eaten up by the so-called pink tax. It refers to the higher prices women can pay for some products and services,

As a kid growing up in Sydney’s northwest, we often used to waterski on the Hawkesbury River. The drive to Windsor took us through areas that often flooded after heavy rain. No matter – at the time it was mostly open farmland. Fast-forward to 2022 an

While home buyers may not have climate change top of mind, insurance companies do. The March 2022 flooding across south-east Queensland and NSW generated 118,000 insurance claims. It comes on the back of 2021, a year that saw the insurance industry p

Covid has certainly forced us to make significant changes to our lives in a way we would have never imagined. Many of us have had a taste of working from home and have had to adjust to a new way of balancing work and everyday life. The “new norm” of

Renovation costs for a home office space vary depending on your requirements. Are you transforming a bedroom? Adding a wall in a living space? Installing a new window, maybe? Costs you will need to consider include electricity, demolition and structu

Expenses for which you may be entitled to an immediate deduction in the income year you incur them include: • advertising for tenants • body corporate fees and charges • cleaning • council rates • gardening and lawn mowing • insurance (building

To send a letter to the editor, write to: Rainmaker Group Level 7 55 Clarence Street SYDNEY NSW Australia 2000 or email [email protected] For all enquiries and letters, please include name, address and phone details. Letters may be edited for cla

Plenty of Australians are crying out for accessible, affordable financial advice. A 2019 survey by the corporate regulator ASIC found two out of five of us would like financial advice, with issues around growing super (31%), retirement income plannin

Brianna is 40, works full-time and is on a salary of $90,000. She has a super balance of $100,000. The only money going into her super is her employer’s SG contribution of 10% of her salary (increasing to 12% by July 1, 2027). If she salary sacrifice

Craig Sankey, head of technical services and advice enablement at Industry Fund Services, says people tend to have what is called a “present bias”. That is, they would rather settle for a smaller present reward than wait for a larger future reward –

The takeover deal-making for undervalued Australian companies has been in full swing this year. But if interest rates rise later in the year, it may be harder to make the takeover arithmetic work. Cashed-up companies, private equity firms and some la

If you are an employee in demand, you could be offered shares or options by a company as a motivation to join or an incentive to stick around. Employee share and option schemes have been growing in popularity over the past couple of years, particular

Unlisted start-ups are able to compete with listed ASX companies and overseas companies by offering their non-executive employees (referred to as non-C-suite) bigger incentives, bonuses and more equity in the business. Start-ups will be able to offer

Food retailing in Australia is beginning to settle down after the wild swings of the pandemic, with Woolworths just ahead of the overall food retail market in the first half and Coles just behind (see chart). It was a tight range, though, at around 2

The table contains information to help you compare super funds. It showcases publicly available MySuper investment options offered by some of Australia’s biggest funds. Rainmaker categorises them into risk options based on percentage of growth assets

It was a decidedly downbeat mood at this year’s Roth Capital Partners conference in California in March. With the sun shining and with meetings scheduled in person for the first time in three years, you might have expected smiles and laughter. But fo

Author of Find, Build, Sell: How I Turned a $100 Backyard Bar into a $100 Million Pub Empire and chief executive of Hunt Hospitality. Hunt says the best investment he’s ever made was buying his first pub. Although his wife says his best investment de