Yes the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is actively discussing interest rate rises but no, they won't be lifting them any time soon. These are the confusing headlines you'll hear from pundits talking about the direction for interest rates. So what's going on? At their last policy meeting, the RBA concluded with similar comments it provided in previous months. It did, however, raise one new point about interest rates: they're likely to move up rather than down. That doesn't seem to be news to anyone. The central bank would be loathed to to move rates from the current, long-term record lows, to a new record low. With this, the RBA is warning borrowers that the low-interest-rate environment wil

The amount of money you initially borrow from the bank is called the principal amount and your bank charges you interest on the outstanding principal each month. This means that focusing on paying down your principal amount puts a bigger dent in paying off your mortgage a whole lot sooner. For instance, if you have a loan of $300,000 at 4.5 per cent interest and you pay $1,520.00 a month, the loan will cost you more than $548,000 over 30 years. If you can find a way to increase your monthly payments by just $300 you would save 8 and half years and almost $80,000. Increase your repayments by an additional $200 more and you'll see the mortgage gone in less than 19 years. The problem, of cours

As many financial planners will tell you, building wealth is a process made of many small actions that add up over time. So if you want to see your bank account grow, adopting new money and lifestyle habits is a smart way to start. There are many paths to building wealth like, starting your own business or timing the share market or, just getting lucky (against astronomical odds) and winning the lottery. But if you want to take control of your financial future and give yourself the best chance to make real wealth in your life, there are a few things you need to do 1. Understand good debt and avoid bad debt. While not all debt is inherently bad, it's a good general principle to avoid debt whe

Australia’s banks are probably a month away from deciding if they’re going to increase interest rates once again, deciding between being popular or being profitable. The three-month bank bill swap rate, which Australian banks use to gauge borrowing costs, rose one quarter of one per cent in March, the biggest monthly gain since September 2010. This is being driven by a number of factors including increases to US interest rates and changes to bank regulations here in Australia. However, most of the movement is due to the economic uncertainty around the US-China trade 'war of words'. While it is currently very heated, it's hoped this exchange will settle to a more normal discussion and if so,