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Aug 2019Burnout! Is it time to take some time?
By Emily Connell Nutritional Medicine Self-care – it’s a bit of a ‘buzz’ word. Everyone is telling us we need more of it – can’t pour from an empty cup and all that. But it’s harder than it sounds! It’s so much more than pedicures and massages (don’t get me wrong – these are great!), but it’s actually about scheduling in regular time for YOU….
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Aug 20195 sustainable holiday destinations to add to your travel list
From wildlife-filled jungles to some of the world’s most spectacular beaches, sustainable travel is on the rise across the globe. While there’s nothing like swaying in a hammock with a cocktail or two, it’s even better when you know your holiday dollars help to support communities and environmentally-friendly practices, while protecting cultural and natural heritage. Sink into that hammock at one of these sustainable travel…
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Aug 2019Spending money in a cashless world
How the move to electronic payments could be making it easier to spend…and what to do about it. It’s Thursday morning and almost the end of the working week. You’re walking to the train station and you realise you’ve forgotten to top up your public transport card. No matter…a few clicks later and you’ve transferred $50 over. At the station you grab a takeaway flat…
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Aug 2019From bartering to smartphones—how our money habits have evolved
When’s the last time you used cash? New technologies are changing the way we transact Two sheep for an axe? A pigskin coat for a sack of grain? Three bushels of wheat for a goat? We’ve come a long way as a species. Back in the day, bartering was the only way to conduct transactions. It was time consuming, unsophisticated and inefficient—every transaction had to…
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Aug 2019Why ESG has moved from nice-to-do to must-do
Investors increasingly care about ESG. Traditionally we could rely on authorities to take our concerns into account and update the regulatory framework accordingly. But, with political polarisation increasing, this mechanism is coming undone. As a community of companies and investors, the onus is on us to step in and co-operate to develop an ESG structure that works for all of us. Until recently, community expectations…
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Aug 2019Climate change and ethical investing
The vision for ethical investing is simple: invest for the long term while making the world a better place. It’s noble and hard to argue with. Implementing the vision, however, is not so easy. The investing world is seldom black and white. Investors often face a decision choosing the lesser of two evils, or the better of two goods, rather than between good and evil….
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Jul 2019Wanted: Post-retirement advice for SMSFs
Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) have increasing unmet needs for advice about having a regular retirement income, investing in retirement and estate planning. The 2019 Vanguard/Investment Trends SMSF Report estimates that 145,000 SMSFs have unmet needs for advice on post-retirement planning while 80,000 SMSFs have unmet needs for estate-planning advice. This equates to almost a quarter of SMSFs having unmet needs for post-retirement advice – based on the…
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Jul 2019The valuable diversification benefits of international exposure
With protests in Hong Kong and an unresolved trade war between the United States and China, this may not seem like a wise time to invest abroad. Looking beyond current events however, a sound investment strategy starts with an asset allocation, aligned to an individual’s goals, that is built upon reasonable expectations for risk and returns over the long-term. Well diversified investments can help investors…
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Jul 2019Beyond super: Our other personal investments
Given the attention on the size of Australia’s super savings, it may surprise you that personal investors in total have almost as much outside super as inside super. The latest Personal Investments Market Projections report, recently published by consultants Rice Warner, calculates that the total value of super* and non-super personal investments was $5.5 trillion at June 2018. Non-super investments make up almost half or $2.7 trillion…
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Jul 2019Are you putting all your marketing eggs in one basket?
By Flying Solo contributor Cath Connell We live in exciting times! New technologies have made it so easy to grow your dream business by providing low-cost and potentially powerful ways to connect with your audience – often without having to leave the comfort of your office (or dining table)! No longer do we have to rely on expensive, broadcast advertising, nor make those dreaded cold…