Apparently there was a recession in 1991. I can only vaguely remember it. Financial commentators refer to the last recession as being beyond the memory of Generation Y (the “me” generation who have everything they want) and question their ability to cope. They might be right about that. I’m not sure my generation have much [...]
Well done Westpac
Kudos to Westpac. I had a message on my mobile phone this afternoon asking me to call Westpac Card Services. A bit of a hassle, but I followed the prompts, identified myself and got through to someone after about five minutes. They wanted to check that a Mastercard transaction was legitimate. It was A$38 to [...]
What credit crunch?
Is there an international financial crisis related to dodgy lending that has caused a global credit squeeze … or am I dreaming? I received a letter from Citibank this week offering to increase my credit limit incrementally from $20,000 to $50,000. “In recognition of your excellent repayment record we are delighted to offer you further [...]
Superannuation going backwards
My superannuation was parked in cash for a few months earlier this year while I switched it to a new account. That meant I fortunately missed the first half of the stock market downturn and probably saved a few thousand dollars. I opened the new account with about $78,000. It’s worth the same today, even [...]
Share market volatility
I’m glad I don’t currently own shares. We sold them all to buy our house in Mount Gambier. The sale price was between 10 and 20 percent off the peak but still yielded a profit. I checked the prices today after hearing the Dow dropped 358 points overnight. Westpac is down to $20.69, WA Newspapers [...]
