Last Friday, cybercriminals launched an attack the following super funds: AustralianSuper Australian Retirement Trust Hostplus REST Insignia (owner of MLC and IOOF platforms) The attack involved a process known as “credential stuffing” (a type of brute force attack) and targeted retirees aged 60 or older who are able to withdraw money from their super accounts.
On Tuesday 26 March 2025, the Treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers delivered the Albanese Government’s fourth budget. The Treasurer said this pre-election Budget was aimed as easing cost of living pressures and ensuring economic stability against a backdrop of increasingly uncertain global conditions. Personal income tax Applies from 1 July 2026 The Government announced that all
Background The Australian Government's Help to Buy scheme is a shared equity program designed to assist eligible Australians in purchasing a home by reducing the financial burden of large deposits and mortgage repayments. Under this scheme, the government provides an equity contribution of up to 40% for new homes and up to 30% for existing
Difficult (ie negative) market conditions continue to persist. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down 10.95% for the year. Before you get overly concerned, this particular index doesn’t include dividends, which always generate a positive return of approximately 4.5% (excluding franking credits). S&P/ASX 200 Index - 1 yr movement to 18 October
There’s no avoiding the fact that it has been a difficult few months for investment markets. The Australian share market, as measured by the ASX200 is down 10.6% since this year’s peak back on the 21st of April. S&P/ASX 200 Index - 6 mth movement to 28 July 2022 Source: Bloomberg Markets Likewise,
As shown in the chart below, the Australian share market has recovered to its previous high-water mark which was back in August last year. This in spite of the significant falls in January (caused by inflation fears) and in late February (caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine). S&P/ASX 200 Index - 1 year movement to
On Tuesday 29 March 2022, with the next federal election looming, the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg delivered his fourth Federal Budget. This Budget is focused on providing relief from increasing cost of living pressures and continuing to support the economy in the context of ongoing geopolitical pressures. Superannuation No changes to super or contributions There were
In the process of writing our February newsletter, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and, as a postscript to that newsletter, we provided evidence that staying invested (ie not panicking) was the best course of action. In the three and a bit, weeks since that newsletter came out, we’ve seen the horrific consequences of the
Late last year, when Harvest was thinking about factors that would drive the investment landscape in 2022, four key themes emerged. Just quickly they were: Monetary & Fiscal Policy (reduced Quantitative Easing and increased Government spending)Inflation (inflation now looking to be more systemic than transitory)Interest rates (now clear the US Federal Reserve will increase US
As you can see from the chart below, the Australian Share market (as measured by the ASX200 Index) peaked back on the 13th of August. Since that time, the market has shown increased volatility (ie more extreme day to day movements) and more or less tracked sideways but with a bit of a downward trend.
