Who's Counting?

Certainly the government can’t count correctly.The IRD, Treasury and Dr Michael Cullen featured in a scenario the writers of Yes Minister would have loved. It seems that the $400 million “deficit” we had for the seven months to January was actually a surplus of $200 million – as Mae West said when she went into the movies “I just love those round figures”. What a massive balls up. Quite apart from the obvious questions – can we trust anything we...

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Musings and Amusings

Our brains lust after money with the same neurons that crave sex. And these are the same neurons which give us the high from cocaine. The pleasure of orgasm, the high from cocaine, the rush from buying, are governed by the same neural network.Furthermore, these primal pleasure circuits can, and often do, override the functioning of the brains’ frontal cortex which governs rationality (read more about this in Money, Money, Money, Ain’t it Funny)....

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Womenomics

Workers are fleeing the country at an alarming rate – but if you are a professional woman think twice. Women in senior jobs in Australia’s largest companies earn up to 50% less that men in similar positions.The survey which was completed by the federal government’s Equal Employment for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) found that women chief executives earn 32.3% less than men and the gap for chief operating officer and chief financial officer...

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Finance and Investment

I feel for those investors who have been burned in the ongoing finance company saga, to add insult to injury it appears that some lawyers are demanding $5000 upfront before talking to investors about taking legal action. Some lawyers are offering a 50% discount on this fee.If you are considering pursuing legal action make sure you know what you are getting your money for before you embark on what will be a costly and possibly fruitless exercise.This...

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Everyday Money

We work too hard for our everyday money to lose it.It appears that people who are already victims of share-scams are being targeted a second time by fraudsters. Callers are making offers as part of a new wave of telephone share scams. Fraudsters have taken millions of dollars over the last decade, particularly targeting small business owners.This time around the callers are claiming to have found purchasers for the bogus shares. If this sounds familiar...

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Why?

Why, given our prediction for trusts, are we not managing them appropriately?A recent survey revealed that nearly 25% of family trusts are being run so badly they face being deemed a sham if tested in court. Furthermore, in an online survey only 29% of trusts were classified as adhering to good trust management principles. 32% of the 1000 surveyed handled the trust so poorly they had a high chance of being deemed a sham trust. This would mean the...

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