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Opinion

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A question on many investors’ minds is whether investing in so-called value stocks like Buffett does is the best strategy in this volatile market and economy.

My wife thinks investing is too risky, how do I convince her?

When someone says they think investing is too risky, they can often be speaking from a place of fear. There are some things you can do to overcome this.

  • by Paridhi Jain

Latest

Households sit on $10.7 trillion of real estate, dwarfing their equities holdings of $1.4 trillion.
Analysis
Home loans

Have property prices peaked for now? These factors suggest so

Weakness could emerge in Australian house prices in the second half of 2024 with the RBA potentially keeping interest rates on hold.

  • by Robert Baharian
Moving in with a sibling doesn’t mean you’ll have to forego the finer things in life.

Will my pension be cut if I move in with my sister?

Moving in with a sibling is unlikely to have a bearing on your pension as Centrelink does not consider family members as being in a relationship.

  • by Noel Whittaker
Jacinta Allan still leads John Pesutto as preferred Victorian premier despite a massive slump in Labor’s primary vote.

Jacinta Allan is slowly marching Labor off a cliff of Daniel Andrews’ making

Though the state election is still two years away, a damning poll for Labor doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the Allan government.

  • by Annika Smethurst

Something truly strange is happening when Dutton wants to slash immigration

The unaffordability of home ownership is a good issue for the election campaign, but Peter Dutton is drawing a long bow in linking it to immigration.

  • by Ross Gittins
Mark Morris and his daughter Isla Morris.
Analysis
Shopping

Eating cheap: Families slash weekly shop to under $200 a week

Families across the country are being forced to re-evaluate their weekly shops in the face of rising grocery prices.

  • by Nina Hendy
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Jacinta Allan faces an uphill battle to keep Victorians on side.

Victorians are deserting Labor and its own budget contains the reason

The state’s surging debt and the government’s shelved promises laid out in this month’s budget have sent support for Labor to a fresh, and deep, low.

  • The Age's View
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Letters
Letters

Do we believe in a justice system only when it suits us?

Readers react to the ICC prosecutor’s claims against Benjamin Netanyahu and debate the Melbourne protests.

Who really runs the country? The secret roles of Albanese’s ministers

Anthony Albanese’s ministers have portfolios – they also have other roles: confidantes, influencers, attack dogs. And some are more equal than others.

  • by James Massola
A Warragamba Slammer: refreshing or making your kids dumb?
Analysis
Science

A new study links fluoride with cognitive issues. Should we be worried?

Many studies have linked higher levels of fluoride to lower IQ in children, but not all studies are equal.

  • by Angus Dalton
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan recreated Nicky Winmar’s famous moment in a game last year.
Opinion
Indigenous

The number of Indigenous AFL players has plunged from 87 to 71. It’s going to get worse

Recruiters tell me the number of Indigenous AFL players is likely to fall to the mid-60s next year due to retirements and a lack of talent coming through, and worsen from there.

  • by John Evans
Brad Arthur during an Eels match.
Opinion
NRL 2024

Happy 50th birthday Brad – you’ve received the most Eels-style present ever

From club member number 2911828, here’s a tribute to the former Eels coach on his birthday.

  • by Adrian Proszenko
Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady

Why Telstra needs to sack 10 per cent of its workforce

The good news for chief executive Vicki Brady is that the mobile division continues to motor on nicely. She needs this motor to purr like a kitten.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.
Analysis
Super Rugby

The Eddie-shaped shadow hanging over a Cheika rescue mission at Waratahs

With the embers of last year’s bin fire only just extinguished, Rugby Australia is facing a fraught decision: does it bring back another colourful ex-coach to fix rugby in NSW?

  • by Iain Payten
For some people, supplements are taking the place of tried and true health treatments like rest and hydration.
Opinion
Flu season

I know pseudo remedies won’t cure my winter cold. But they make me feel special

We’re currently experiencing a unique hell of virus soup, and despite knowing what we need to do to get better, following doctor’s orders feel painfully pedestrian.

  • by Wendy Syfret
You might ask what a two-month sojourn in New York has to do with personal finance, but good planning goes well beyond just the numbers.

This is what good financial planning really looks like

You might ask what a two-month sojourn in New York has to do with personal finance, but good planning goes well beyond just the numbers.

  • by Paul Benson
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He’s back: Keith Gill is thought to have turned a $US50,000 investment in GameStop into a nearly $US50 million fortune.
Opinion
Investing

Why ‘Roaring Kitty’ is the poster child for next-generation investors

After a long period of calm, all it took to reignite the meme stock flames was a cryptic post last week from GameStop investor “Roaring Kitty”.

  • by Marcus Ashworth
Treasurer Jim Chalmers reading his budget speech.
Opinion
WordPlay

Australia leads the world in the use of this oxymoronic term

During this year’s budget there was one recurrent word association that appeared more than others.

  • by David Astle
People hold up posters of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a mourning ceremony for him in downtown Tehran, Iran.

What a change of leadership in Iran means for the world order

The now dead Iranian president and foreign minister did everything they could to consolidate the “Axis of Resistance”. There is a decision to be made.

  • by David Sanger
A solar power station on the outskirts of Golmud, Qinghai province. There has been a surge in clean energy investment in China.

The two major threats to a ‘net zero’ world

Shell’s head of strategy says the chances of meeting the global carbon emissions targets depend on two crucial factors.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Wayne Bennett
Opinion
NRL 2024

Parramatta’s shambolic attempt to sign Bennett exposes what’s wrong with the club

They weren’t late to the party to sign the supercoach. They weren’t in the same hemisphere.

  • by Andrew Webster
Gif showing how cameras monitor the self-service checkout at supermarkets

Supermarket self-checkouts must die. And no, I don’t wish to print a receipt

Supermarkets’ faith in customers’ ability to negotiate the self-checkout appears to be fading faster than a BBQ chicken after six hours in the bain-marie.

  • by Michelle Cazzulino
Brad Arthur and Wayne Bennett
Analysis
NRL 2024

Operation woo Wayne west: Inside the Eels’ failed plot to replace Arthur with Bennett

On May 11, while the rugby league world poked fun at the Eels for not pursuing Bennett’s services, club bosses boarded a flight to Brisbane to meet him at his farm.

  • by Michael Chammas and Adam Pengilly

When Taiwan changed leader, Beijing sent its own guests, uninvited

This is the atmosphere in which Taiwan on Monday inaugurated its new president, Lai Ching-te.

  • by Peter Hartcher
Ange Postecoglou at the helm of Tottenham Hotspur.

‘Big Ange’ and the political football: Postecoglou’s place in sporting code wars

Ange Postecoglou arrives back in Melbourne in the middle of the AFL season. Steeped in two codes, how should he negotiate the “No Sherrin” rule?

  • by Greg Baum
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Letters
Letters

Cutting migration is one thing Peter Dutton but it isn’t a housing policy

Readers react to the housing shortage and the opposition leader’s vision for Australia as stated in his budget reply.

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Melbourne’s Shane McAdam.

‘Showed a lot of cracks’: The competition in season 2024 is closer than you think

This week on the Real Footy podcast, Mathew Stokes joins Michael Gleeson and Jake Niall to discuss what this round taught us about how even the competition is, St Kilda’s struggles and the Bombers’ top four bona fides.

  • by Staff writers
It’s raining predators for The Star casino.
Opinion
Casinos

The kindest thing to do with Star is to find it a new owner

There will always be jackals milling around a smelly corporate carcass. But none will want to pay top dollar for this one.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Throughout his time as prime minister, Scott Morrison said Australia should do more to support veterans.

Page 97 of the budget kept me awake at night, and is a stain on Morrison’s legacy

A $6.5 billion funding allocation is an indictment against the Coalition’s treatment of veterans, and the backstory to it enough to make your blood boil.

  • by Shane Wright

China just unveiled a ‘ground-breaking’ fix for its property crisis. It’s not enough

Three years after China’s property sector started imploding, Xi Jinping is finally doing something meaningful to fix it. He needs to do more.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Harley Reid fends off Melbourne opponents Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca.
Analysis
AFL 2024

The killer stat that shows Harley Reid really is the new Dusty

All the hype about Harley Reid was justified. Well, most of it anyway. The teenage phenomenon is the AFL’s No.1 tackle-buster, and in just nine games, he’s already made a start on a hall-of-fame highlights reel.

  • by Peter Ryan
(Clockwise from left) Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Oleksandr Usyk.
Analysis
World Boxing

Who is the greatest? Ranking boxing’s undisputed heavyweight champions

Oleksandr Usyk is the undisputed world heavyweight champion after beating Tyson Fury. But how does he rate against Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and George Foreman?

  • by Gareth A Davies

In defence of Gina Rinehart, I hate my portrait too

The vanity in portraiture lies in the conceit of being selected in the first place, swiftly followed by dismay at the outcome.

  • by Antoinette Lattouf
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Why Labor’s budget is not enough to reverse its two-year slump

It is not unusual for governments to suffer a slump after two years in power – it happened to John Howard in 1998 and he recovered. But there are danger signs for Labor.

  • by David Crowe
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a commemoration for the Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani killed in 2020 by a US drone strike.

What Iranian president’s helicopter crash means for the Middle East

Iran views itself as the chief patron of Palestinian resistance to Israeli rule, and top officials have called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

  • by Joseph Krauss
Jim Chalmers is all smiles before his budget speech today.

Money can’t buy everything, but Chalmers can buy an inflation reduction

The treasurer’s use of new policy tools to solve new kinds of inflation has enraged many commentators, but the anger of those stuck in the past doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be looking to the future.

  • by Richard Denniss
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PERTH, AUSTRALIA - MAY 18: Ben Donaldson of the Force celebrates crossing for a try during the round 13 Super Rugby Pacific match between Western Force and NSW Waratahs at HBF Park, on May 18, 2024, in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

The exiled player whose form proves the Waratahs are in a full-blown crisis

NSW were torched by Ben Donaldson on Saturday in Perth: a playmaker they released last year. And his improvement speaks volumes about the Tahs.

  • by Paul Cully
Anthony Albanese, Justin Olam and peter V’landys.
Exclusive
NRL 2024

Inside the Magic Round meetings that saved PNG’s NRL bid from collapse

If the bid to establish an NRL franchise in PNG is successful next month, discussions inside Suncorp Stadium’s Chairman’s Room will be remembered for saving it.

  • by Andrew Webster
In his budget reply speech on Thursday night Opposition Leader Peter Dutton acknowledged the need to bring in migrants with construction skills, but had little to say on their contribution to other areas of talent shortage.

Dutton’s grim picture is close to reality, but his migration schtick isn’t the solution

In treating migration as his golden leadership goose, Peter Dutton is making a classic political mistake, which is to identify your strength and then over-emphasise it.

  • by Sean Kelly
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Letters
Letters

New apartment and home construction needs more supervision

Readers discuss the problems homebuyers face when flawed design, construction and fit-out occurs in recently built buildings.

Sonny Angel dolls have become hugely popular among adults.
Opinion
Real life

What do King Charles and Margot Robbie have in common? They’re both avid kidulters

It’s easy to assume that toys speak only to kids and that once puberty hits, we stop needing their comfort. But that assumption would be wrong.

  • by Shona Hendley
Opinion
UK

I attended the Sea Power Conference. On behalf of Australia, I was embarrassed

Inexcusably, not a single officer of our navy had bothered to travel from Canberra to attend our AUKUS partner’s principal naval strategic forum.

  • by George Brandis
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announces GPT-4o last week.
Analysis
AI

Google, OpenAI race to create indispensable AI assistant

Both companies are rolling out technology that lets you talk to their chatbots in a much more natural way.

  • by Tim Biggs
Paul Kent leaving Downing Centre Court earlier this month.
Analysis
NRL 2024

Court case shines light on Paul Kent’s demons

The Fox Sports NRL host’s well-publicised fall warrants compassion. This is why he won’t get much.

  • by Danny Weidler
A downsizer super contribution can be made regardless of your total super balance.

We’re running low on super, can we use our house equity as backup?

Downsizing and contributing the proceeds into your super has minimal limitations, but it might affect your age pension.

  • by Paul Benson
Melbourne-based comedian and model Aurelia St Clair posted about their 2 litre water bottle with the #emotionalsupportwaterbottle.
Opinion
Wellness

Just keep chugging: this water bottle fixation is a generation’s security blanket

Are there risks from this obsessive water-carting beyond constant trips to the loo? Just ask Novak Djokovic, who recently copped one in the head.

  • by Claire Heaney
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That women are being prioritised should be celebrated. But separating these budget measures only furthers the divide, both socially and economically.

Why it’s time we got rid of the women’s budget statement

That women are being prioritised should be celebrated. But separating these budget measures only furthers the divide, both socially and economically.

  • by Victoria Devine
Jewish counter-protesters confront a pro-Palestinian rally the Monash University encampment this month.

Why Israel is losing the PR war

We are witnessing an epoch-defining communications disaster.

  • by Parnell Palme McGuinness
Julie Goodwin in MasterChef Australia: Fans &amp; Favourites

The childhood secret that has driven Julie Goodwin, and the recipe everyone should have

The 2009 MasterChef winner has just released a memoir, and there’s a generous serving of real life and ripper recipes.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
electric vehicles EV EVs tesla Real Money newsletter
Opinion
Hip pocket

Contemplating an EV? Here’s the buzz on the pros and cons

Electric vehicles are soaring in popularity, but “range anxiety” and fears over costs are preventing many drivers from making the switch.

  • by Dominic Powell