• COMMENT

Buying a car will be for many people the first major financial decision they make. And for a lot of them, it might also be their first financial mistake, according to a new ASIC report.

• COMMENT

The more than $30 billion plunge in the value of Australian equities on Monday will make a dent in all our investments and super funds and result in an understandable degree of panic.

• COMMENT

Living in Australia, there's a danger of taking James Morrison for granted. Glenn Stevens has become a bit like that too.

• COMMENT

If a company tricks their customers about the product they're selling, is that any less serious than colluding with the shop next door?

• COMMENT

The scorecard in the Dick Smith game of deception versus incompetence is a hard one to read.

• COMMENT

The alleged 'bullying' tactics waged against 7-Eleven franchisee Helen Ren by head office has sent chills through the convenience store giant’s franchise network.

• COMMENT

Just about everyone who doesn't look at the numbers - which is most people - is convinced the economy is 'slowing'.

• COMMENT

Nobody cares if banks are getting a good kicking from politicians because nobody cares about defending them.

• COMMENT

There's more than a little irony in at least some of the Australian dollar's latest gyrations being attributed to Glenn Stevens' exit interview remarks. He actually dissed monetary policy's exchange rate power.

• COMMENT

I question whether Australians should be having the days off that we do.

• COMMENT

The fallout from Sam Dastyari's entitlement and stupidity is considerably greater than his unimportant political career.

• COMMENT

What have we said about product strategy and trying not to alienate customers? I thought you'd learned your lesson after the iPhone 5c fiasco.

What do Australians that haven't seen a decent pay rise or whose wages are moving backwards spend their money on? It's turning traditional retail theory on its head.

There is a limitation to how far negative interest rates - that is, rates below zero - can go before it has an adverse impact on investor and consumer confidence.

• COMMENT

GDP data on Wednesday is tipped to confirm it's been 100 quarters since our last recession. Raise your bat, Australia – we're the second nation to ever score such a century.

• ANALYSIS

Just why would Dick Smith have acquired something from a supplier at 98¢ and sell the same thing back to the supplier at 78¢?

• COMMENT

It's time for government to acknowledge the obvious: electricity prices will have to rise if we're meaningfully to reduce carbon emissions.

Unlike many of my Fairfax colleagues, I'm ambivalent about holding a Royal Commission into financial markets in general and banking in particular.

Just as they say there's more than one way to skin a cat, so there are a lot of ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• COMMENT

As the clock starts ticking on the introduction of a code of conduct for the scandal-ridden life insurance industry, the sector needs to think carefully about releasing a half baked code as calls for a royal commission get louder.

• COMMENT

The great thing about the Australian Bureau of Statistics' private fixed capital survey is that it records more than the past.

The government must encourage new industries like Google to take on apprentices.

• COMMENT

You might remember being given a nickname at school or as you took up your apprenticeship.

• COMMENT

The fancy new $5 note – yes, still with the purple Queen – isn't the only Reserve Bank event today.

• COMMENT

Proposing a royal commission into banks is reckless and ill-conceived.

• COMMENT

A royal commission would compel banks to come clean and will leave them with nowhere to hide.

• COMMENT

With revelations 7-Eleven stores are still plagued with wage fraud, it is disappointing to see the government fail to include worker exploitation in its 25 priority policy list.

• COMMENT

The apparent dividend contradiction is a reflection of the main themes of this reporting season: overall averages were skewed by a few spectacular dives.

A strategy of investing in the big household names would have been a losing one over the past year.

There are few topics on which there's more irrational thinking than foreign investment. Trouble is, the illogic comes as much from economists and policy makers as it does from uncomprehending punters.