Westpac forecasts a bigger 0.5 percentage point interest rate rise in November

Westpac has become the first big bank in Australia to explicitly forecast a larger 0.5 percentage point interest rate rise next week. Should that larger increase materialise on Melbourne Cup Day, a borrower with a typical $600,000 loan will see their monthly repayments climb by another $181.  Inflation in the year to September surged by … Read more

Are online estate agents the best way to sell your home – or are their cheap fees a false economy?

Faced with double-digit inflation, a cost-of-living crisis and soaring mortgage bills, anyone moving home this autumn will want to count the pennies.  So, is a low-cost online estate agent just the ticket or a false economy? And is the tried-and-tested traditional High Street agent the most sensible way to sell in a difficult market?  Operators … Read more

Americans are relying on dollar stores to buy dinners and bulk items as grocery prices surge 12.2%

Americans are increasingly relying on dollar stores to feed their families as inflation has driven grocery store prices up by as much as 12.2%. Grocery sales at discount stores spiked 71% between October 2021 and June 2022, the analytics firm InMarket found, while sales of the same items in grocery stores dropped 5%. The shift … Read more

Interest bill for UK’s £2.4tn debt mountain more than DOUBLES to record £19.4bn in June

Red alert on public finances: Interest bill for UK’s £2.4tn debt mountain more than DOUBLES in June to £19.4bn – the highest for a single month since records began in 1997 – as inflation soars Interest costs on UK’s £2.4trillion debt mountain hit £19.4billion in June It was the highest on record for a single … Read more

Raging US inflation is FAR WORSE than we’re being told: ANDY PUZDER and JIM TALENT

Andy Puzder is a former CEO of CKE Restaurants, chairman of 2ndVote Value Investments, Inc., and a senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute. Jim Talent is a former U.S. senator from Missouri and the Chairman of the Reagan Institute’s National Leadership Council The outlook for the U.S. economy is bad and potentially getting … Read more

ACTU boss Sally McManus slams ‘boomer fantasy’ that wage increases will hike inflation

Union boss SLAMS Reserve Bank over its ‘boomer fantasy’ that pay rises for average Aussies will push up grocery prices – as she demands huge hikes Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe warned about 1970s style wage-price spiral  He fears that if workers continue to get high wage rises, inflation will increase  ACTU boss Sally McManus … Read more

Aussies average retirement savings could drop by a shocking $8k each as world stock markets tumble

Australians checking their financial statements at tax time could be in for a shock with the average superannuation savings taking an $8,000 hit.  Customers’ super cash is invested by fund managers into portfolios containing a mix of shares, bonds, property and infrastructure assets – where the investments ideally grow to a healthy balance by retirement.  … Read more

Interest rate rise tips the balance on renting vs buying

Renting has become cheaper than buying a property after last week’s Bank of England interest rate rise, new research has claimed. The monthly cost of owning an average home with a 10 per cent deposit mortgage is now slightly higher than renting it, despite rental inflation hitting double digits for the first time in at least … Read more

Why millions of Australians are suffering a pay cut despite a big rise in the minimum wage

Millions of low-paid Australian workers on award wages and apprenticeships will suffer a pay cut despite the biggest minimum pay increase in 16 years. Australia’s unemployment rate in May stayed at 3.9 per cent for the third straight month – holding at the lowest level since August 1974. But experts fear rising inflation will see … Read more

Interest rates are set to rise AGAIN with Bank of England taking base above 1 per cent

Interest rates are set to rise AGAIN with Bank of England taking base above 1 per cent for the first time since 2009 in bid to tackle rampant inflation Interest rates have bumped up rates four times since December Prices jumped by 9 per cent, the highest rate of inflation since the 1980s if rates … Read more