When you find any country where the two drinks you love most in life are both of terrific quality and amazingly cheap it’s worth whetting your whistle. With one just beverage bias to satisfy it’s easy. Think Mexico and tequila or wine and France or India and tea. But to get lucky with two luscious liquids is rarer.  A few sad individuals might dream of Scotland and its whisky and Irn-Bru ... read more>

It doesn’t take much more than four steps to feel as happy as a billionaire! When it comes to seeking worldly advice it’s perhaps more useful to ask what makes someone happy as opposed to salivate over how they spent their money… especially if they are worth north of $96 billion. Such is the wealth and generosity of Bill Gates, you can find out both in these stories but given I don’t ... read more>

Just before the Budget, the authoritative but little-known Parliamentary Budget Office issued some illuminating and non-partisan research into the costs of our ageing population. And while these reports are manna from heaven for pundits, policy wonks and think tanks to put their own spin on there’s also plenty of food for thought for us lesser mortals i.e. those they are talking about. ... read more>

Electricity relief is on its way for some 758,000 households who are currently stuck on expensive standing offers.   On July 1 2019 all customers not receiving an electricity discount will be automatically switched to a Default Market Offer (DMO), saving some households between $118 and $181 a year across New South Wales, South-East Queensland and South Australia. Similar changes from July 1... read more>

Are you feeling guilt-tripped or “Boomer-blamed” by all the election chatter about soaking better-off oldies to appease a less well-off younger generation? For all the recent fuss about the identity politics on race, religion and sexuality, there’s a far more ancient battleground between the generations and it’s now more central thanks to the key election battlegrounds of retirement inco... read more>