​Just because political or financial news is a diversion, a challenge or even entertaining, doesn’t mean it’s actionable. In fact, what people outside the media rarely appreciate is how many of the headlines you see every day are effectively meaningless. And it’s been really getting on my goat lately! So in this article, I’ll interpret some of the most common headlines and what it actually means for your investments. 

In his farewell speech, outgoing US President Obama said if he had to choose one moment in history to be born in, he’d opt for right now. Obama’s optimism is shared by Swedish historian Johan Norberg, who in a new book argues people have lost perspective about the many good things humanity has achieved.

​To help prevent the ho, ho, ho from turning in to boo, hoo, hoo, here are my 12 Tips (not always serious) for surviving the Christmas and New Year break. 

​Most of us could do with a crash course in personal finance.  In fact, two-thirds of people around the world failed a short test of basic financial concepts. The five-question test—created by Standard & Poor’s, Gallup, the World Bank, and George Washington University—was posed to 150,000 people in more than 140 countries last year. 

​Many Aussies are big on dreams, but not so strong on plans. ​We can see where we want to be, but aren’t always confident about how to get there. That’s why it makes sense to have a financial plan. The Financial Planning Association have just released a quiz that may help you think about how you approach money and how you might improve outcomes in your life.

A new movie, “The Big Short” is a focused on the Wall Street events leading up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which was the first of the dominos to fall in the great financial crisis of 2008. The movie has been nominated for 5 Oscars, is full of beautiful people and is pretty good entertainment too. 

Look at each of these photos for a few seconds. What do you see?