Borrower beware: the banks are lifting fixed interest rates

Posted on Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Beware the major banks lifting interest rates. As we know the RBA has made it very clear that it won’t be pushing up the official cash rate until 2023 or 2024. But that doesn’t mean the banks won’t.   The banks know it’d be madness to hike variable rates as we still sit in the grips of a global pandemic, but unfortunately the same can’t be said about long term fixed rates, which all the lenders have increased over recent weeks.   The three and four year fixed rates have been the first to move, so from here we can either expect those to go up further, or the banks might move on the 2 year rate. So the question is, why are the banks moving on their fixed rates? The answer is the cost of funding has gone up as a response to higher bond yields globally, which means the banks are paying more in wholesale funding from foreign and local investors. What does that mean for you and me?   It means we should be looking at our property plans over the nex ... Read the rest of entry »

June 30 is approaching - what you need to know now

Posted on Wednesday, June 9, 2021
So lockdown is being eased again – excellent. But lockdown or no lockdown, the rest of Australia beyond Melbourne continues to tick along as COVID-normal, which means we’re rapidly approaching the end of financial year and everything that comes along with it. It’s going to be a hell of a year for tax planning, in particular calculating income. It’s important to note that all JobKeeper payments are assessable income, but any state government personal or business grants are exempt from paying tax. From a superannuation perspective, if you’re an employee it’s probably too late now to make any pre-tax super contributions, as you’d need to have notified your employer of that intention. You can still make after-tax contributions, but I’d suggest giving us a call if that’s something you’re interested in doing. If you’re self-employed you can still make a concessional super contribution of up to $25,000, as long as it’s done before 30 June. ... Read the rest of entry »

We have a beef about lockdown, but we nearly had a much bigger beef about beef!

Posted on Friday, June 4, 2021
This is a lockdown free newsletter this week. I don't know about you, but I've had enough of talking about it!   But what we do need to talk about is IT security and how it’s becoming a real problem, not only for big business but small business as well.   A few weeks ago a Russian consortium hacked the Colonial pipeline and were paid ransom funds of around $5 million in Bitcoin.   More recently Australia’s largest meat producer, JBS Group, which has extensive operations in Brazil and the USA alongside Australia, was attacked.   The attack knocked out their global operations, sparking concerns of a supply shortage here and overseas, or a price spike.   But more importantly, it highlights how short the chain is between a single big business and an entire country’s food security.   Given the scale and potential impact of the attack, the FBI is investigating, with early indications suggesting the attack came out of Russia.   I find all of this fas ... Read the rest of entry »

7-day lockdown in Vic, and something for business owners to consider this time round

Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2021
Well, here we go again! As you will likely have heard, Victoria has been put into yet another "circuit breaker" lockdown, this time for 7 days. There are only 5 reasons to leave home: the 4 we're used to, plus to go get vaccinated. Obviously the impact on Victorian businesses will be immense, with other states and territories slamming their borders closed already. This is a massive kick in the guts, but it pales into insignificance compared with the impact of a longer, more drawn-out lockdown like we saw last year. Fingers crossed, it's all done and dusted in a week. Stay tuned to our social channels for more developments and analysis as things unfold. As we learned during last year's lockdown, these periods of downtime can be used productively to grow and develop our businesses for when we do get back to normal operations. One thing that's worth considering if your business uses contractors, is last week's landmark decision by the Fair Work Commission that some contractors might actuall ... Read the rest of entry »

Concerns around inflation and market volatility seem to be the new norm

Posted on Thursday, May 20, 2021
It seems concern around inflation and market volatility is the new norm at the moment. I've had multiple enquiries from concerned clients over the past week. One of the great parts of my job is I get the opportunity to speak with a wide range of people every week, from clients and colleagues through our business, to other industry experts through my media commitments. This week I had two really informative conversations with fund managers Jonathan Armitage from MLC and Matt Sherwood from Perpetual. If you have questions or concerns around inflation and market volatility, I really encourage you to listen to these two interviews, as they should go some way to explaining the situation. These two guys are experts in their field with huge sums under management, so they know their stuff. And if you'd like to hear more, you can tune in to Money News on the Nine Radio network (including 2GB & 3AW) tonight from 7pm, as I once again have the privilege of hosting the show. ... Read the rest of entry »