When the business is the owner: what a buyer, a lender and a successor see
A business can earn well and still have little to sell. A buyer values what continues when the owner is absent.
Know your numbers first: budgeting discipline in a higher-rate world
A higher cash rate raises the cost of a shortfall and the reward for a buffer. Budgeting discipline matters more either way.
A smaller refund than expected: the four real reasons
A smaller refund is rarely an error. Bracket creep, offset phase-outs and HECS repayments compound quietly across the year.
After the September hike: when inflation and unemployment rise together
The RBA hiked to 4.60 per cent as inflation and unemployment both rose. A harder trade-off than August's hold suggested.
What you can (and can't) claim: deductible expenses for residential rental properties
Rental deductions fall into three groups: immediate, spread over years, or not deductible at all. Confusing them is the common error.
A fractured market: what September revealed about diversification
The S&P 500 was nearly flat in September. The typical stock inside it fell almost 6 per cent. The gap is the story.
After the 11 August hold: what the RBA's shift in language actually signals
The RBA held at 4.35 per cent on 11 August and narrowed its hike trigger from "if needed" to "if upside risks materialise." The rate did not move; the base case has.
After Jackson Hole: what Warsh's Fed told markets on his 100th day
On his 100th day as US Fed Chair, Kevin Warsh used his first Jackson Hole keynote to sharpen the Fed's inflation warning. The direction of monetary thinking has hardened, again.
For crypto holders: why a swap is still a CGT event, even without cash
Many crypto holders assume a swap is not taxable unless they cash out to AUD. The ATO says otherwise — the swap itself is the CGT event.
Cost and tax discipline: why fees, taxes, and portfolio drift are the certainties investors control
Markets are uncertain. Fees, taxes, and portfolio drift are not. The discipline is to know what each cost is paying for, rather than to minimise every cost.
The depreciation add-back: why claimed capital works reduce your CGT cost base
Sell your investment property for $300,000 more than you paid, and the taxable gain is often higher — depreciation claimed each year reduces the cost base at sale.
Quarterly PAYG instalments: how the system works and when to vary
PAYG instalments is the system through which people who earn business or investment income pre-pay their tax quarterly to the ATO. It is not an additional tax; it is the same tax, collected earlier. Understanding how the amount is calculated — and when to vary it — is the difference between managed cash flow and a year-end surprise.
For PAYG earners: why a $1 deduction is not worth $1
A common misconception among PAYG earners is that a $100 tax-deductible expense "gets you $100 back." A deduction reduces taxable income, not tax payable. The dollar-for-dollar assumption inflates the perceived benefit and can lead to material errors in personal financial decisions.
The investor's chief problem: temperament, discipline, and the returns that behaviour destroys
Over the decade to 31 December 2024, the average dollar invested in US mutual funds and exchange-traded funds earned 1.2 per cent per year less than the funds themselves returned. The investments performed; the investors, on average, did not. The gap is the returns that behaviour destroys.
The 11 August decision: what the RBA is weighing
The Reserve Bank meets on 11 August. All four major domestic banks expect a hold at 4.35 per cent; most surveyed economists expect a further hike. The data that has arrived since the June meeting is mixed — enough to sustain a case for either action or restraint.
The return of tightening: what the shift in central-bank thinking means for portfolios
Six months ago, the developed world's central banks were expected to spend 2026 cutting rates. Today, they are contemplating whether to raise them further. The shift in institutional thinking has been quiet and unmistakable — and it matters more than the marginal moves themselves.
What the first half of 2026 showed about genuine diversification
The 2026 crisis produced one of the widest divergences in global market returns in recent memory. The lesson is not that an investor should have picked the winning market. It is that no investor can — which is precisely why genuine diversification matters.
The Medicare levy surcharge: why the higher thresholds may still catch you
The Medicare levy surcharge thresholds rose on 1 July 2025 — the single threshold lifting to $101,000. For many taxpayers, however, the surcharge is more likely to apply now, not less. The interaction with rising incomes is the reason.
Personal deductible super contributions: how the deduction works and what to confirm before 30 June
A personal contribution to superannuation can be claimed as a tax deduction — converting income taxed at your marginal rate into income taxed at 15 per cent inside the fund. The benefit is significant. The conditions are specific, and the deadline is 30 June.
The long-term case for equities: why patience is rewarded
Long-horizon wealth is built by owning productive assets. Equities are volatile, unpredictable, and at times uncomfortable to hold. They remain the only mechanism through which an investor participates directly in productive enterprise at scale.