Money Magazine November 2016

“I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars... but once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.” BILL GATES As we were heading to the printers, treasurer Scott Morrison was named in the No. 6 spot in AFR Magazine’s annual list of the most powerful people in Australia. Interestingly, he maintained his position from last year. Love or loathe him, there’s no denying that whoever controls the purse strings to our economy is somebody who commands our attention. If they can get it right they can do a lot of good. If not, we all feel the pain. Right now Morrison needs to plug our debt and, as he says in our exclusive interview with him, “the best way to ensure…

Bring back databank You ask for readers’ thoughts on bringing back data bank (Letters, October). I would love to see the return of this section. I miss the information it provided, which made it easy to find the best bank accounts, credit cards, managed funds, loans, etc. Hopefully, enough people will respond to your call for feedback to prompt a decision to return the data bank soon. On another note, the article about paying off the mortgage or investing (August) made very interesting reading and has prompted me to re-think my strategy, so thank you Money for providing an excellent and easy-to-understand advice. Lynn, email I am also one of the readers who liked data-bank. I think it gave a very good, quick, comprehensive and easy to understand overview of…

I am usually a big fan of Paul Clitheroe’s pronouncements but his defence of the big banks (In Your Interest, September) cannot be allowed to pass without comment. I do appreciate that the mortgage interest rates aren’t directly related to the Reserve Bank rate. But the banks seem very reluctant to pass on all the reduction when the rates are cut, and almost always pass on the increases. Result: ever increasing bank profits. You would also be aware of the number of cases where banks have given loans to unsuspecting people who cannot afford to service them. Often this is due to unscrupulous third parties taking advantage of financially illiterate people (yes, they are obviously not Money readers!) but certainly the banks are guilty of not exercising the most basic…

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CHRIS GRAY CEO of buyer’s agency Your Empire and host of Your Property Empire on Sky News Business, Chris says: “I always assume I might be dead tomorrow so I live for today, completing my bucket list as the ideas come to me. Highlights include competing in a supercar race across Europe, becoming a chopper pilot and hiring a superyacht.” SUSAN HELY Susan has been a finance journalist for 30 years and has been a senior writer at Money for 10. Susan says: “I want to visit Bhutan in the remote eastern Himalayas. Volunteer with WIRES Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation and look after injured native animals (particularly wombats) and birds. Write a novel.” EFFIE ZAHOS Effie is Money’s editor and author of The Great $20 Adventure. Effie says: “Go to…

EDITORIAL Chairman & chief commentator Paul Clitheroe Editor Effie Zahos Deputy Editor Maria Bekiaris Art Director Ann Loveday Deputy Art Director Tim Verrender Designer Luise Vestergaard Senior Sub-editors Bob Christensen, Lindsey Leathart Senior Writers Susan Hely, Pam Walkley Online Content Producer/Writer Steph Nash CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Chris Batchelor, Alan Deans, Nicola Field, Chris Gray, Ross Greenwood, Sam Henderson, Greg Hoffman, Roger Montgomery, Anthony O’Brien, Marcus Padley, Vita Palestrant, Martin Roth, Annette Sampson, Richard Scott CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Frances Andrijich, Rocco Fazzari, Reg Lynch, Jim Tsinganos, John Tiedemann PHOTOGRAPHS Getty Images iStockphoto ADVERTISING NSW & Vic Peter Balinski (02) 9282 8075 Queensland Nikkola Hogan (07) 3101 6636 South Australia Jo Moroney (08) 8267 5032 Western Australia Vikki Stacy (08) 9449 9908 PRODUCTION Controller Ian Henn Advertising Production Dominic Roy MARKETING Subscriptions Marketing Coordinator…