When Banks Get It Wrong

Over the past few decades there has been a relentless march by Australian banks to reduce costs. I used to work for three foreign banks in the 80s, 90s and naughties who used to laugh at Australian banks’ cost to income (CI) ratios – all below 50% (now in the low...

Gather Ye Rose Buds

Robert Herrick was ahead of his time. In the poem below he’s effectively telling you to seize the day. I’m sure Mr Herrick didn’t have property developers in mind when he wrote the poem (in fact, the word Virgin in the title of the poem kind of gives away whom he had...

Interest Only

When I first put in place a home loan 32 years ago all I could think about was how I was going to pay it off and own my own home. The day I made the final repayment was one I’ll always remember. I was free of the bank…until we decided to upgrade but that’s another...