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Gemma Acton

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Australia’s record high fuel prices push EVs up grid

Call me pessimistic but between geopolitics and local pricing dynamics, I’m braced for petrol prices to reset their record highs before too long.

Gemma Acton

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Shrinkflation is back and it’s costing us big

When VB dropped its alcohol content, its fans were responsible for some of the most impressive shrinkflation sleuthing and shaming Australia has ever seen. 

Gemma Acton

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Bad news, folks, we are in a happiness crisis

I mean ‘we’ in the widely inclusive royal sense. That sobering pronouncement comes to us from Arthur C. Brooks, a subject matter expert and teacher of a Harvard Business School course entitled Happiness.

Gemma Acton

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Life’s good ... but really only for the lucky few of us

New year, new you? Not so fast, according to NAB, whose latest quarterly well-being survey indicates we haven’t felt this down since COVID first broke out four years ago.

Gemma Acton

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RBA’s plain-speaking new era

Newly anointed governor Michele Bullock was barely four months into the job when she had the unenviable task of delivering the Reserve Bank’s first post-decision press conference last Tuesday.

Gemma Acton

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How to spend smart when travelling abroad

There’s a lot to think about when you’re heading overseas. The Aussie dollar tends to do better when people are optimistic about the health of the global economy.

Gemma Acton

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Democracy’s crisis of faith

Like dozens of financial journalists from around the world, I’m lucky enough to be spending the third week of January admiring the breath taking beauty of the Swiss Alps. 

Gemma Acton

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The high price of happiness

The dawn of a new year has no real competition in its claim to be the most popular time to set resolutions and reassess life goals. 

Gemma Acton

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How much money are Aussies really spending this Christmas?

A few days out from Christmas, the Australian Retailers Association is striking a relatively positive tone — upping its forecast for pre-Christmas spending to $67.4 billion — a 1 per cent increase on last year.

Gemma Acton

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What to consider when preparing your 2024 personal finances

It’s worth doing a quick stocktake of what we’ve seen this year that could help us in thinking through our personal finances once the calendar ticks over to January 1.

Gemma Acton

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Credit a silent killer for the household budget

Free flights? Discounts on groceries? Petrol savings? Cashback? Sure — as we approach Christmas and are now 18 months deep into a rampant inflation crisis, I’m listening. But what’s the catch?

Gemma Acton

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What you need to know about surge pricing

Setting prices used to involve a lot of guesswork but the more data that is available to retailers and service providers, the more they can finesse pricing to squeeze buyers to cough up every last dollar.

Gemma Acton

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The fertility rate declines while the cost of kids goes up

A fortnight from now — if all goes to plan which admittedly it never does in these situations — I will be in a maternity ward with a brand new family member in my arms.

Gemma Acton

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Who really feels like they’ve been getting notably richer?

While wealth has been increasing, retail spending has trended flat for a year now. That’s despite prices rising, indicating we’re buying less overall, it’s just costing us more. 

Gemma Acton

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AI can improve productivity

There’s no doubt, AI will completely change the way most of us work. But it’s far too pessimistic to assume it’ll be uniformly bad.

Gemma Acton

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Why corporate trust is in a tailspin in Australia

‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.’

Gemma Acton

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The very real cost of shocking increases in shoplifting

Consumers worldwide are feeling the pinch and, separately, organised crime gangs are getting smarter about how to evade the ever-expanding reach of technology and trackers in our supermarkets.

Gemma Acton

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Aussies cut back on insurance as cost-of-living bites

The sad reality is that the most vulnerable people, least able to help themselves in the event of a future catastrophe, are the ones who already can’t afford to buy insurance.

Gemma Acton

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Why domestic holidays are bliss

Avoiding the need to navigate a foreign tipping scene is just one of the benefits of holidaying within Australia.

Gemma Acton

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Rewards wars heat up as Aussies fight cost-of-living crisis

Overnight campers and queues stretching five blocks greeted visitors to Melbourne’s iconic Chapel Street shopping precinct — owed to Virgin Australia’s a physical rewards store.

Gemma Acton

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Despite sentiment slides, Luxury retail spending continues

The luxury boom continues, with its startling resilience not just a local phenomenon.

Gemma Acton

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Time to buy less, buy local and hold onto clothes longer

According to a Government report, the average Australian buys 14.8 kilograms of clothing every year. To put that in perspective, that’s 56 pieces each. 

Gemma Acton

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You don’t need to sacrifice your daily coffee to save money

There’s no shortage of budgeting books out there with suggestions on how to stay financially afloat while the pricing screws are being tightened from every direction.

Gemma Acton

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The tiny solution to Australia’s big housing shortage

Amid a chronic national shortage of places to live, it’s unfortunate that Australians have never before desired fewer housemates. 

Gemma Acton