By MLC The problem with the good times is that they make it easy to forget the hard times. The past decade, and indeed the past four months, have seen the major US share market indexes hit all-time highs despite the uncertainty surrounding trade disputes, potential rate hikes and a slowing global economy. This has […]
Key points The combination of the removal of the threat to property tax concessions, earlier interest rate cuts, financial help for first home buyers and APRA relaxing its 7% interest rate test points to house prices bottoming earlier and higher than we have been expecting. As a result, we now expect capital city average house […]
This article originally appeared in The Australian Retirement used to be a clearly demarcated milestone in the life of working Australians. Cake and speeches on a Friday and on the next Monday you started your life as a retiree. That’s not so simple any more. More Australians transition into retirement over a few years. Let’s […]
Dean Pearson, Head of Behavioural & Industry Economics, MLC Ill health, job loss and family reasons mean one in two Australians will retire earlier than they anticipated. This is a now a well-established trend in MLC’s Wealth Behaviour Survey. But many more are staying in the workforce longer than previous generations. That’s largely because pre-retirees, […]
This article originally appeared in The Australian There was a time, not so long ago, when retirees were happy to be called “retirees” or “seniors”. After all, these older Australians had worked hard, raised a family, paid their taxes, volunteered, done their bit and now it was time for them to enjoy a long, happy […]
Key points The trade war between the US and China has returned after talks to resolve their trade differences broke down. Our base case remains that a deal will be reached to resolve the issues, but the risks to global growth are now higher (given the escalation in tariffs from the US) and share markets […]
Dear Sir/Madam, Only 11 days till the Federal election and we won’t have to listen to or watch any more political advertisements! Sharemarkets have been relatively quiet although the inability of the US and China to reach a trade agreement has the potential to have a negative impact on the sharemarkets in the short […]
This article originally appeared in The Australian By 2029, the last baby-boomer (born 1946-63) will have reached retirement age (over 65). This doesn’t mean that all boomers will be retired. Of the 5.3 million people over 65, about 545,000 will still be working — that’s 10 per cent. The 65+ cohort will be bigger than […]
This article originally appeared in The Australian Google the term “over-55s” and up will pop the most confronting schedule of material that any baby-boomer could imagine. Apparently, the Over-55s is now a thing, a grab-bag, that encompasses everyone and everything that sweeps forth from the virtual end of the working life to, well, the great […]
Dean Pearson, Head of Behavioural & Industry Economics, MLC, part of the NAB Group. It was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who noted that change is the only constant in life. And yet, more than 2500 years later, most of us still have an uneasy relationship with the concept. We know what we like and we […]