Empower Blog

Improving Financial Literacy

In previous newsletter articles, we looked at the results of an international study which highlighted the high poverty rate amongst older Australians compared to other countries. In this newsletter, we look at a recent international study which casts Australia in a more favourable light. The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (P...

Read More

The Impact of the Federal Budget on your retirement

In recent articles in this series, we have discussed the state of incomes of older Australians compared to other developed nations, and concluded that we fare very poorly in such a comparison. In this article, we take a look at the proposals contained in the May 2014 Federal Budget and how they may impact on the wealth and lifestyle of older Austra...

Read More

Whose Responsibility?

If Old age poverty rate were to still be at its current level of 35.5% by 2050, we would be facing the prospect of over 10% of Australians living in poverty at a time when they should be enjoying their desired retirement lifestyle. Would it be the responsibility of the Superannuation or the Age Pension to avoid this? Will they even work? In an e...

Read More

Is Australia really a good place to grow old?

You may have been pleasantly surprised earlier this month to read in the newspapers that “Australia ranks 14th out of 91 countries in a new index of the best and worst places to grow old, and which warns many nations are ill-prepared to deal with the old age time bomb.  In a rapidly greying world, the Global AgeWatch Index - the first of its kin...

Read More

One more look at predicting the Future

In the previous article, we discussed one of the key factors in developing a long-term wealth building strategy  -  the need to “predict”, or at least make assumptions about, how household cashflows will change over time.  Before starting any investment with a goal of building wealth, it is critical to have a clear picture of the anticipated...

Read More

Another look at Predicting the Future

In a previous article, we discussed one of the key factors in developing a long-term wealth building strategy  -  the need to “predict”, or at least make assumptions about, how key variables affecting the outcome of the strategy will change in the future.  For example, a strategy involving the use of borrowed money will need to include an as...

Read More

Predicting the Future

In previous articles, we have been looking at the inputs to and outcomes from an investment strategy, and have identified the return on an investment asset, generally made up of some combination of growth and yield, as a key measure of the performance of that asset. We are able to obtain information on the recent growth and current yield of diff...

Read More

Another Look at Risk

In previous articles, we have been looking at the inputs to and outcomes from an investment strategy.  We have looked at the way the amount of money, the amount of time and the amount of knowledge that you put into an investment can influence the outcome, and how the use of other people’s time, money and knowledge ( which we referred to as lever...

Read More

Another look at Leverage

In earlier articles in this series, we have been discussing the “inputs” that will be required for an Investment Strategy, talking about the different ways that money, time and knowledge will be required to plan, implement and manage an Investment Strategy and how these factors may impact on the outcome of that strategy. In the previous arti...

Read More

The Impact of Leverage

In earlier articles in this series, we have been discussing the “inputs” that will be required for an Investment Strategy talking about the different ways that money, time and knowledge will be required to plan, implement and manage an Investment Strategy and their impacts on the outcome of that strategy.  In the previous article, we discussed...

Read More

Return on Investment

What defines Return on Investment and how it differs for Property and other Financial Assets? And how do you align your expectation and the reality of the returns? In previous articles we've been discussing the “outputs” that we are seeking from an Investment Strategy.  Most importantly, we will be looking for ongoing capital growth o...

Read More

The Impact of Knowledge

Previously, we've discussed the “inputs” that will be required for an Investment Strategy starting off by talking about the different ways that money and time will be required to implement an investment strategy and their impacts on the outcome of that strategy. Another key input that will be required of any prospective investor is knowledge...

Read More

The Impact of Time

In a previous article, we began discussing the “inputs” that will be required for an Investment Strategy by talking about the role of money. Another key factor in any investment will be time, and time influences the outcome of an investment strategy in a number of different ways. The Investor's Time The first aspect of time that we need to c...

Read More