Paul's Insights

Here at InvestSMART we encourage investors to embrace low fee investment choices. But plenty of Australians could be paying more than necessary on their home loan at a time when interest rates are the lowest in 70 years.

Nine in ten Australian adults are members of a loyalty scheme, and the chance to score a freebie can be very appealing. But consumers aren't the real winners of these schemes.

Human beings love to save money. Yet when it comes to investing, we often pay high fees in the belief that this will lead to higher returns. Over time though, fees can have a devastating impact on our wealth.

As investors, we all like to think that we're making rational choices. But it's amazing how our moods can drive investment decisions.

What a crazy world we live in. A new market index has been launched that measures the impact of US President Donald Trump's tweets on global asset markets.

It's a sign of the remarkable times we live in that banks are offering home loans with negative interest rates. But in today's low rate world it pays for investors to take a balanced approach.

After decades of developing a credit card habit, Australians are ditching cards by the hundreds of thousands.

When I talk to people about saving for retirement, a common response is "I wish I'd known that sooner". Building a nest egg isn't hard but it does help to follow some basic rules. Here are five tips to bear in mind.

I'm often asked, "Paul, what do you invest in?" In my younger days, when I was at uni, I was taught that one-third in fixed interest/cash, one-third in property, and one-third in shares would probably do it. But the reality is that asset allocation is as individual as fingerprints.

The Australian share market has notched up an all-time high with the ASX 200 benchmark index hitting 6,875.5 points in late July, passing the previous record of 6851.5 points reached in 2007.

Home loan interest rates are at record lows, but not everyone is sharing the savings.

The Reserve Bank's back-to-back rate cuts in June and July are great news for anyone with a home loan. They're not so good for anyone trying to grow savings - or for those who rely on savings as a source of income.

I'm a big fan of comprehensive car insurance, and while it can be pricey, there are ways to lower the cost.

Two consecutive rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have pushed interest rates into unexplored territory.

It reads like something out of a sci-fi blockbuster. A man sits outside a Melbourne office block using his laptop. He keeps to himself and isn't noticed by passers-by. He's not interested in entering the building - but he's very interested in what's going on inside.

Tens of thousands of Australians are about to pocket a refund for car yard add-on insurance, and it's worth checking if you're owed some money.