What’s On The Credit Cards Really Counts! With Steve Mickenbecker

After falls in credit card balances, the worm is turning, and so I discuss the types of cards and their users, with Steve Mickenbecker from Canstar. There are a number of traps for the unwary, which enables banks to improved their profit, but at the cost of their customers. And we recommend one of the most powerful toll available for debt management!

Steve Mickenbecker is in Canstar’s Group Executive Team, bringing more than 30 years of experience in the Australian financial services industry. As a financial commentator for Canstar, Steve enjoys sharing his expertise across topics such as home loans, superannuation, insurance, mortgages, banking, credit cards, investment, budgeting, money management and more.

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Squeezing Until The Pips Squeak!

Suddenly Central Banks and Governments have the perfect alibi (a claim or piece of evidence that one was elsewhere when an act, typically a criminal one, is alleged to have taken place) to account for years of poor policy, as costs of living, and inflation are rising. And as RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle leaves the bank – does he see the writing on the wall?

The latest edition of our finance and property news digest with a distinctively Australian flavour.

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Property Spruiking Turned Up To 11

The latest Building Approvals data from the ABS to the end of January revealed that the total number of dwellings approved fell 27.9 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in January, following a 9.8 per cent rise in December. The ABS said: “The fall in the total number of dwellings approved in January was driven by a large fall for private sector dwellings excluding houses, which fell 43.6 per cent.

Now, as I discussed with Edwin in our Monday property rant the number of listings, especially for apartments in on the rise, and are tracking much higher than last year. Yet despite this important observation the MSM are ranting on about supply shortages in the next few years. All designed to push for more land releases reduced approval fees and other measures – conveniently ahead of the upcoming election campaign, where property will be in the sights… again.

Spruik definition: to speak in public (used esp of a showman or salesman )

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Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.

If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.

Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.

Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.

Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.

Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.

Stagflation Coming Up Fast: 1970’s Here We Come!

Commodity prices are booming, from Oil, Wheat Nickel and Gas, as the fallout from Ukraine drives momentum which was already in play before the recent conflict started. To get a sense of how volatile commodity markets are right now, take a look at the chart below from Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid, based on Thomson Reuters’ core commodity index. Reid points out,this I starting to mirror the energy price shocks of the 1970s. The rolling 3-month move in this overall commodity index was at +35.9%, just below the highest ever which was the +41.9% seen in the three months to August 11th 1973 . At that was before the latest gyrations. Surging energy and commodity costs mean high inflation is inevitable.

The euro zone is particularly dependent on Russian energy and is therefore the most exposed to stagflation risks, though the United States isn’t immune. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate a sustained $20 rise in oil prices would erode euro zone GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points this year. If Russian natural gas stopped flowing, an additional 2.2 percentage points would be lopped off, they say. That would put paid to most of the economic expansion expected by the European Commission, which in February forecast growth of 4% for 2022.

Have no doubt, Costs of living will spike higher than previously anticipated, and the overhang will be longer.

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.

If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.

Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.

Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.

Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.

Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.

Its Edwin’s Monday Evening Property Rant!

The latest from our property insider. More listings and pressure on apartments, and responsibilities of landlords and tenants, plus Edwin finds something ugly under the house….

The latest edition of our finance and property news digest with a distinctively Australian flavour.

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Making Sense Of The Senseless?

The latest edition of our finance and property news digest with a distinctively Australian flavour.

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

In our latest market update we scan the markets as usual, and it seems to me, finally the markets are beginning to wake up to the huge downside risks which are inherent in an over-valued inflation driven, conflict strewn environment. And it is worth remembering that many “professional” investors earn money facilitating the trades of other investors, so they still have a vested interest in talking the markets back, or higher. For now, there is no reason to think the dip is over.

Indeed, Wall Street fell at the end of a volatile week on Friday as the war in Ukraine overshadowed an acceleration in U.S. jobs growth last month that pointed to strength in the economy. Equities briefly rebounded from session lows in early trading after stronger-than-forecast American jobs data. The greenback rose to the highest level since 2020 and Treasury 10-year yields slumped to 1.7 per cent.

So, stocks dropped, while the dollar climbed with bonds as concerns that war risks are intensifying roiled markets around the globe. Commodities pushed higher amid fears of supply crunches, heading toward their biggest weekly surge since the 1974 oil crisis.

Cash is King In New Zealand!

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand says its latest survey underscores the need for deliberate changes to the cash system to keep it resilient and efficient while needed and wanted by New Zealanders.

The latest edition of our finance and property news digest with a distinctively Australian flavour.

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Wars + Inflation + Financial Crisis = ?

My latest Friday afternoon chat with Journalist Tarric Brooker, as we explore the latest charts on the economy and more. Current events are getting more wild, to the point that had they been in a Hollywood plot, critics would have panned it. Tarric is @AvidCommentator on Twitter.

Slides here: https://avidcom.substack.com/p/charts-that-matter-4th-march-2022?s=r

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