In one corner there are the private economists who might be pushing the subject of their books. In the other corner there are the industry and bank economists who might be protecting their employers’ interests. What are we talking about? The great Australian real estate bubble debate. It kicked off again this week when the media reported on the submission by economists Lindsay David and Phillip Soos to the Federal Government’s home ownership inquiry. The pair claimed housing prices across all capital cities remain grossly inflated relative to rents, income, inflation and GDP.” They were particularly concerned about Melbourne because…

Federal Government has handed down the Budget for 2015-16. As foreshadowed, the Budget contained few surprises with a number of announcements made in the previous weeks. Here’s our overview of areas of interest, as always it is important to note that the Budget announcements are still only proposals at this stage. As you may remember many proposals from last year’s budget are still proposals after they still haven’t passed the Senate! Superannuation Early access to superannuation for people with terminal illness: Amending superannuation conditions of release making it easier for people suffering a terminal illness to access their superannuation benefits from 1…

If you have children or grandchildren it would be smart to offer them some explicit advice about retirement – don’t expect to rely on the government. In recent years there have been changes and forecast changes that really should have younger generations focussing on how they’ll be providing for themselves in old age. Despite what they may say about unfairness in opposition when pandering to voters, both the Labor and Liberal parties have taken to modifying the age pension in recent years when in government. First Labor bumped up the qualifying age to 67 if you were born after July…

You may have noticed oil has been a consistent theme this year. Not because we’re predicting where it may go, or even have any interest in the price (beyond how it impacts us at the pump), but because the price fall lured plenty of financial forecasters out from under their rocks to tell us all where the price would be going next. Given the oil market can move quite fast, we have the ability to monitor and highlight how those bold calls have fared and further highlight why someone telling you about the financial future is either clueless or (most…

Economic Overview Major economies took varying paths in the first quarter of 2015. While the US Federal Reserve prepared to raise interest rates, central banks elsewhere continued to add further stimulus as they looked for economic growth. The US Federal Reserve responded to an improving US economy by signalling it would raise interest rates from record lows later this year, although it continued to emphasise it would be a gradual adjustment. In contrast, amid continued stagnation in the Euro Zone, the European Central Bank committed to another program of quantitative easing. And with the World Bank and IMF lowering growth…