Darren Titmus

Buying a house is probably the biggest financial commitment we make in our lives, so it’s not a decision to be taken lightly. Most people need to borrow money to buy a house. Although this is obviously important, there is more to buying a house than just money. When it comes to buying or renting, there are personal and lifestyle goals to consider. Renting means you only have a week-to-week financial commitment and the flexibility to move with little cost.…

Let’s talk about how you can control your debt. Debt can be a wonderful slave but an unforgiving master. Australians have an extraordinarily high level of consumer debt. It fuels our lives. For example, there were more than 242,000,000 credit card transactions just in the month of July 2018 – valued at more than $28 billion! ($758 million of this was in cash advances). The scariest part of this equation is accruing interest on outstanding balances. With interest rates ranging…

Australian households are the fifth most indebted in the world, according to data from the OECD. A typical family with a disposable income of $100,000 has an average household debt of approximately $210,000. And with rising interest rates and rampant inflation, the cost of living will only continue to escalate. Home loans, credit cards, car loans and personal loans all contribute to financial pressure. One and a half million Australian households are currently under mortgage stress, so if you feel overwhelmed by…

Each year in early May, the Treasurer delivers the Federal Budget and many people across Australia listen intently. The Budget tells us how the government plans to spend its revenue in the coming year, whether it can afford to give us tax cuts, and whether it expects to spend more (creating a deficit) or less (creating a surplus) than it receives. Budgets are also important on a personal level, especially when living costs are rising and uncertainty abounds. So it’s…

At all stages of our lives, we need up-to-date savings advice. The word “thrifty” is rarely thought of in a positive sense but that’s not fair because if we continually spend more than we earn, our debts will eventually catch up and other words such as “default” or “bankrupt” might become more familiar. Being thrifty doesn’t mean doing without – quite the opposite. Here are six simple tips to build up your savings. Create a budget and stick to it…

To stem its then soaring population growth rate, which was widely believed to be crippling economic development, China introduced the draconian ‘one child policy’ in 1979 – a move now seen as contributing to lifting 150 million people out of poverty. The policy focused global attention on fertility rates around the world. It raised the question of whether strong birth rates enhance economic growth. What is happening outside Australia? The World Bank estimates the population of Niger in West Africa…

After Kylie completed university and had landed a well-paying job, her only plan was to enjoy her new financial freedom. She had living to do – the future was a long way off and would take care of itself … wouldn’t it? Kylie’s first purchases were a trendy new hatchback car and expensive clothes suitable for climbing the corporate ladder. Enjoying her exciting lifestyle, she regularly visited restaurants and bars, and took an overseas holiday each year. The last thing…