Womenomics

A fascinating article in the Sunday Times recently highlighted readers on how to predict a divorce. It appears that credit card statements tell their own story.So what are the alarm signals that suggest divorce might be in the offing? "There are many transactional signs," explains Professor Ben Fletcher, head of psychology at Hertfordshire University. "Spending on extra lunches or staying in hotels more frequently may indicate an affair. Perhaps the couple shared one weekly food shop and now buy separately. You'll see people preparing for a split...

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Finance and Investments

The biggest investment we make, emotionally and financially is in marriage. Figures vary but almost half of marriages end in divorce. It therefore makes a lot of sense to sort out financial issues prior to marriage - it should in fact be a priority. Here are four areas that should be at the top of the discussion list.ANCESTRYHow did your parents deal with money, how does that impact how you deal with it, and how might that impact a couple's relationship?Because so many of our money behaviours are learned, couples should share their earliest money...

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Who's Counting?

"I've done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not." Fran LebowitzVictoria University statistical consultant Dalice Sim crunched the numbers yesterday and revealed the odds of winning the big one where rather long. Per line, the chance of picking all six balls plus the Powerball is 0.000000026064, or one in 38,367,096.With a $12 Powerball ticket, the odds shorten to a paltry one in 6,394,5...

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Everyday Money

When you analyse a mortgage, there are three components which determine the true cost to you: the principal, the rate of the interest you pay and the total amount of interest paid. The principal is the initial amount you borrow, an amount obviously decided by the borrower in conjunction with the lender.For a $230,000 mortgage, assuming an average interest rate of 7.5 per cent (based on the average interest rates of the past 10 years), the borrower...

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Why?

Why is nothing in this world constant? Earthquakes, revolutions, and now the news that the lipstick effect isn't working any more. What? You mean you don't follow the lipstick index? Leonard Lauder will be horrified. The idea of the lipstick index was conceived by Lauder, from that rather famous family, after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The theory is simple - in times of economic and political uncertainty, people don't spend up big on clothes...

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Musings and Amusings

It was not amusing to read of Saudi Arabia’s decision to ban voting for women – it’s outrageous.It did however cause me to muse upon the flagrant disregard not just for women’s “rights” but the failure to see women as beings with intelligence, the ability to think, and to be at least equal to men.I suppose that here in the West at least chauvinism is fairly covert and some effort is made to allow women to join the ranks of voters and workers. Still,...

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