Pre-Election Australian Federal Budget 2022-23 The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has handed down Australia’s pre-election Federal Budget for 2022-23, his 4th Budget.  The Budget pushes cash hand-outs into the wallets of Australians through temporary measures such as one-off payments and petrol excise cuts. With many measures tailing off in July-September 2022, it is clearly geared as an Election Budget, with the nation waiting for the Election date to be called.  Here is our br...

How to calm those market jitters It’s been a rocky start to the year on world markets but that doesn’t mean you should hit the panic button. Staying the course is generally the best course, but that’s easier said than done when there’s a big market fall. In January markets plunged some 10 per cent but then staged a recovery. That volatile start may well be an indication of how the year pans out.i The key reasons for this volatility are fear of inflation, the prospec...

SMSFs on the defensive: Is it time to revisit your strategy? Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) have had a challenging year, with COVID-19 linked market uncertainty affecting income and returns. But SMSF trustees haven’t been sitting on their hands. One of the main reasons people give for wanting to establish an SMSF is to have greater control of their investments and taking control of a difficult situation is exactly what they’ve been doing.   Changes to asset allocation ...

When the coronavirus pandemic hit financial markets in March 2020, almost 40 per cent was wiped off the value of shares in less than a month.i Understandably, many investors hit the panic button and switched to cash or withdrew savings from superannuation. With the benefit of hindsight, some people may be regretting acting in haste. Although for others, accessing their super under the early release due to COVID measures was a difficult but necessary decision at the time. As it happened...

Investing in recovery In his third and possibly last Budget before the next federal election, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is counting on a new wave of spending to ensure Australia's economic recovery maintains its momentum. As expected, the focus is on jobs and major new spending on support for aged care, women and first-home buyers with some superannuation sweeteners for good measure. With the emphasis on spending, balancing the Budget has been put on the back burner until employme...