Money Magazine

The subject of money – how to save it, invest it and spend it – is as broad as the universe is wide. And it’s often not until our editorial team decides to home in on a specific subject that we get a full picture of the mechanisms underpinning it. In this April issue, it’s insurance, with a special focus on life insurance. Life insurance is basically the desire to relieve yourself and others of debt in the event of an unfortunate occurrence, be it death, disability or the loss of a job. It’s available in three main ways: buying through a super fund, direct from an insurer or through a financial adviser, in what’s termed advised insurance. The first question to ask yourself is, Should I take out insurance?…

How our son saved for a car and his first home Our son left school at 15 to start an apprenticeship as a chef. He didn’t have to pay ‘board’ so long as he put half of his pay into a savings account/term deposit for his first car and then a home deposit. By the time he was old enough to get his licence, he had enough to buy a decent secondhand car for $10,000. By the time he was 20, he had saved another $95,000 and – with the assistance of a first home buyers grant and stamp duty exemption – was able to buy a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Gosford on the NSW Central Coast for $485,000. He is now 22. His unit is valued at $560,000-plus, giving…

TOM WATSON Senior journalist It won’t come as a surprise to learn that as a 34-year-old who has spent most of the past decade working in consumer finance, I regularly check my super. It’s part of a monthly review of my savings, investments and mortgage. I make sure that both employer and personal super contributions have gone through. I wish I could say I was just as diligent about checking my insurance in super, though. See Tom’s story on green loans on page 62. POOJA ANTIL Research manager As a research manager cum analyst at Rainmaker, I look at my superannuation fund way more than the average person would. Thanks to my job, I automatically find out my fund’s performance on a monthly basis. However, I consciously log into my…

Anyone running an ice-cream shop knows there are always a few flavours that get consistent sales. The owner would be foolish to take them off the menu. Then there are flavours that come and go. As a child I was an ardent fan of chocolate mint for a time, before going back to vanilla. I thought my choices were the result of independent decision making. It is only now that I study investment funds flows for a living that I realise that my ice-cream decision was not independent. I was following the crowd. This is also something that ice-cream shop owners know. They keep selling the familiar and rotate other flavours in and out of the line-up. Funds managers do the same thing. When something is out of favour, they…

Every now and then, a mythical creature appears in the startup world – a unicorn. These privately held companies, valued at $US1 billion ($1.6 billion) or more, are the gold standard in business, and Australia has some shining examples. While ‘Aussie-corns’ such as Airwallex (valued at $8.7 billion), Immutable ($4 billion) and SafetyCulture ($2.5 billion) have emerged in recent years, Canva, the web tool, is perhaps the prettiest of them all. The design titan has surged to a valuation of $63 billion, acquiring the AI tool Leonardo.Ai, reaching 200 million users and expanding its leadership team. If Canva goes public, it will join Atlassian and Judo Bank as Aussie exicorns – companies that successfully launched on the market. Had you invested $10,000 in Atlassian at its IPO, it would be…

Recent headlines highlighting management shortfalls in founder-led companies underscore the need for rigorous corporate governance. While founder-led companies often deliver superior returns for investors, related risks can reduce shareholder value, and it is essential that investors are clear-eyed when assessing the risks and benefits of such ownership structures. Founder-led companies possess distinct advantages that contribute to their impressive performance compared with professionally managed companies. Founders typically have significant ownership stakes, aligning their interests with those of shareholders. This alignment encourages long-term value creation as the company’s financial success is tied to the founder’s success. However, to benefit from the range of positive outcomes of investing in founder-led companies including the founder’s alignment with shareholders and deep expertise, shareholders must remain vigilant in overseeing corporate governance. To this end, investors should…