The Royal Commission: the closer you get, the worse it looks

When Commissioner Kenneth Hayne submitted the interim report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services industry to the Governor-General and the Parliament in September, …

Why a picture is worth 1000 words in developing effective research insights

The use of visual images in research is not new, but the way they are used continues to evolve and grow. Visual images help to generate research data and provide …

Complaints up, skilled staff down: the challenges of residential aged care

Australia’s residential care providers are in a challenging environment. While some providers are making healthy profits, smaller providers are struggling to survive. This survival-of-the-fittest approach was exposed by ABC’s recent …

If clients aren’t hearing your voice, who are they listening to?

Since the start of this year the reputation of financial planning has been battered by the Royal Commission. Control of the messages about the very real and significant benefits of …

Education and the Royal Commission push financial advice into uncharted territory

It’s been five months since the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry ended its hearings into financial advice. Although nobody is sure exactly how …

A guide to capturing the core-affluent consumer online

Online mortgage application systems are fast becoming a preferred way for “core-affluent” consumers to compare home-loan options and find loans, a new report by CoreData Research’s Mortgage Intelligence Unit (MIU) …

Home loan growth dives – has APRA gone too far?

The release of the latest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) monthly banking statistics show annualised monthly growth in home loans has dropped to 2.25 per cent – the lowest growth …

Don’t Let The Royal Commission Do All The Talking

Well then. What a whirlwind the royal commission’s public hearings on financial advice were. Heads rolled – not least of all, the AMP chairman and CEO – and billions of …

Competition versus Conflict in Mortgage Broking

Before the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry sank its teeth into the financial advice industry, it spent two weeks on consumer lending where …

Bugger married at first sight – the best TV in Australia is The Royal Commission

Bugger Married at First Sight, the best TV ever is watching the Royal Commission on the feed while you are working, or better yet, listening to it as you attack yet another data …

First home buyer volume flatlines

There are more Australian first home owners in the market today as a proportion of all home buyers than there have been for more than five years. The uptick – which …

A tale of two mortgage brokers

As a property investor, I became worried about the high interest rate I was being charged on my variable-rate home loan, particularly after getting a letter in the mail notifying …

Market Turns For First Time Buyers

The four year retreat of first home buyers from market looks to have ended according to data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS),  indicating that the …

The war on the banks – or the myth of the convenient monster

There is an idea that runs through literature that goes like this – if you want to create a simple and compelling narrative then you need to create a monster, …

Why I won’t be accessing my super early

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asked on numerous occasions by friends, family and colleagues my opinion on whether allowing early access to superannuation is a good idea. …
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