Rick Maggi

11 April 2024

Real Estate, Property

7 things you need to know about the Australian property market...

Rick Maggi

11 April 2024

Real Estate, Property

7 things you need to know about the Australian property market...

The Australian housing market has started the year on a solid note with national home prices up 1.6% over the first three months according to CoreLogic. We had thought the drag of high mortgage rates would get the upper hand again but the supply shortfall is continuing to dominate…

Rick Maggi

29 January 2024

Market Wrap, Market/Economic Update

Economy: Too good to be true?

Rick Maggi

29 January 2024

Market Wrap, Market/Economic Update

Economic data over the holiday period remained solid - too good to be true?

Rick Maggi

11 October 2023

Westmount Financial, Wealth Accumulation, Vanguard, Stocks

The hunt for red Octobers...

Rick Maggi

11 October 2023

Westmount Financial, Wealth Accumulation, Vanguard, Stocks

Share markets remain jittery. Should investors be worried about the October effect?

Rick Maggi

26 July 2023

Educational, Investing, Wealth Accumulation

Investment themes (be careful)...

Rick Maggi

26 July 2023

Educational, Investing, Wealth Accumulation

Investing in trends is a relatively new phenomenon. But trends can hide investment traps…

Rick Maggi

19 February 2023

Budgeting, Finance, Mortgage

Lifestyle affecting your borrowing power?

Rick Maggi

19 February 2023

Budgeting, Finance, Mortgage

Lifestyle affecting your borrowing power?

When you don’t have a mortgage it’s easy to splash your cash on living it up. But did you know that your spending habits can influence how much lenders are willing to loan you? Read on to find out how your lifestyle can affect your borrowing capacity…

Rick Maggi

10 June 2021

Educational, Investing, Retirement, Strategy, Superannuation, Trusted Advice, Wealth Accumulation, Westmount Financial

How often should you check your investment returns?

Rick Maggi

10 June 2021

Educational, Investing, Retirement, Strategy, Superannuation, Trusted Advice, Wealth Accumulation, Westmount Financial

How often should you check your investment returns?

Before you started reading this article, did you already do a check-up on your investment portfolio value? If you did, and do so just about every day, you're certainly not alone.

Rick Maggi

3 June 2021

Taxation, Tax Return, Tax Deductions, Westmount Financial, Wealth Accumulation

Navigating your tax return for 2021...

Rick Maggi

3 June 2021

Taxation, Tax Return, Tax Deductions, Westmount Financial, Wealth Accumulation

Do you want to get more from your tax return this financial year, but you’re not sure where to start?

Rick Maggi

21 April 2021

Property

3 reasons why the property bull market might be coming to an end...

Rick Maggi

21 April 2021

Property

The Australian housing market is booming. Prices are rising sharply, auction clearance rates are very strong, sales are surging, and housing finance is around record highs…

Rick Maggi

14 April 2021

Educational, Investing, Superannuation, Retirement

The importance of starting point valuations...

Rick Maggi

14 April 2021

Educational, Investing, Superannuation, Retirement

The importance of starting point valuations...

It makes sense that the cheaper you buy an asset the higher its prospective return will be. However, this is frequently forgotten with investors often tempted to project recent returns into the future regardless of valuations…

Rick Maggi

17 March 2021

Retirement, Superannuation

Super: Understanding the new balance caps...

Rick Maggi

17 March 2021

Retirement, Superannuation

Super: Understanding the new balance caps...

A major change to the superannuation system came into effect in mid-2017 with the introduction of a lifetime limit on how much super can be transferred into pension accounts earning tax-free income…

Rick Maggi

1 December 2020

Superannuation, Taxation

Super, death and avoiding taxes...

Rick Maggi

1 December 2020

Superannuation, Taxation

Having enough superannuation to enjoy a financially comfortable lifestyle in retirement is the aspiration of most Australians…

Rick Maggi

3 November 2020

Event Driven Update, Interest Rates

RBA cuts rates to just 0.1% - but will it work?

Rick Maggi

3 November 2020

Event Driven Update, Interest Rates

RBA cuts rates to just 0.1% - but will it work?

Today the Reserve Bank has announced its cash rate decision for the month of November, moving in line with market expectations, cutting the official cash rate from 0.25 per cent to a new historic low of 0.10 per cent…

Rick Maggi

28 October 2020

Coronavirus, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Planning Assoc, Investing, Retirement, Strategy, Superannuation, Wealth Accumulation

COVID & Responsible Investing...

Rick Maggi

28 October 2020

Coronavirus, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Planning Assoc, Investing, Retirement, Strategy, Superannuation, Wealth Accumulation

The pandemic has been described as the ultimate test for the performance of funds that consider environmental, social, governance factors, writes Clifford Fram. The early evidence shows they are outperforming their peers…

Rick Maggi

23 October 2020

Budgeting, Debt Management, Finance, Financial Planning, Financial Stress, Lifestyle

Overwhelmed by debt?

Rick Maggi

23 October 2020

Budgeting, Debt Management, Finance, Financial Planning, Financial Stress, Lifestyle

If you’re feeling the heat of mounting bills, don’t panic. You can negotiate a better deal that lets you hang onto your cash while you weather the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rick Maggi

9 October 2020

Wellbeing, Travel, Coronavirus, Covid-19

Covid proofing your travel plans...

Rick Maggi

9 October 2020

Wellbeing, Travel, Coronavirus, Covid-19

Is lockdown fatigue getting the better of you? If you’re dreaming of a beachside holiday, you might be wondering if it’s safe to make travel plans…

Rick Maggi

5 October 2020

Coronavirus, Debt, Debt Management, Finance, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Stress, Home Loans, Loans, Mortgage, Property

Did you defer your loan repayments?

Rick Maggi

5 October 2020

Coronavirus, Debt, Debt Management, Finance, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Stress, Home Loans, Loans, Mortgage, Property

If you’re one of 900,000 Aussies who deferred their home or business loan due to COVID-19, you could be getting a call from your bank in the next few weeks. Here’s our guide to your options…

Rick Maggi

11 September 2020

Coronavirus, Economics, Educational, Wealth Accumulation, Superannuation, Strategy, SMSF, Shares

Envisioning a post-pandemic future...

Rick Maggi

11 September 2020

Coronavirus, Economics, Educational, Wealth Accumulation, Superannuation, Strategy, SMSF, Shares

The American mathematician Claude Shannon famously established a lower bound for the number of possible moves in a typical chess match: around 10120…

Rick Maggi

8 September 2020

Educational, Economics, Financial Planning, Financial Advice, Investing, Strategy, Superannuation, Wealth Accumulation, Westmount Financial

The trouble with intuition...

Rick Maggi

8 September 2020

Educational, Economics, Financial Planning, Financial Advice, Investing, Strategy, Superannuation, Wealth Accumulation, Westmount Financial

Cognitive bias has been of particular interest to the investing community and long lists of biases – confirmation bias, anchoring, the recency effect and dozens of others – are now the stock-in-trade of beginner investors worldwide…

Rick Maggi

2 September 2020

Estate, Wills & Estate Planning

Why you need a Will

Rick Maggi

2 September 2020

Estate, Wills & Estate Planning

In 2020 COVID-19 has introduced significant health risks and changes to family life. It’s now more important to have an estate plan so you can make sure your family and loved ones are looked after should you become ill or die….

Rick Maggi

1 September 2020

Budgeting, Debt Management, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Planning Assoc, Finance, Financial Stress, Goal Setting, Investing, Lifestyle, Loans, Educational

Don't let overspending be your undoing...

Rick Maggi

1 September 2020

Budgeting, Debt Management, Financial Advice, Financial Planning, Financial Planning Assoc, Finance, Financial Stress, Goal Setting, Investing, Lifestyle, Loans, Educational

Don't let overspending be your undoing...

Do you struggle to control your spending around your friends and family? If the urge to ‘keep up’ with a certain lifestyle is stretching your finances, it could be time to take action…