This Month
The ‘singles tax’ stings, but can you put a price on happiness?
Studies suggest the price of choosing to live alone could be anywhere between 3 per cent and 15 per cent.
- Updated
- Lucy Dean
January
- Updated
- Health insurance
Butler rejects health insurers’ second bid to lift prices
Health Minister Mark Butler has rejected a second round of requests from private health insurers to increase customer premiums, saying they need to help more during the cost-of-living crisis.
- Updated
- Ronald Mizen
Private or not, Sydney most expensive for schools
The annual Cost of Education Index found the total cost of educating a child in a private school in Sydney rose by 9 per cent in the past year.
- Julie Hare
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Nine red flags for budget watchers
Labor has a choice: deliver a pre-election budget that builds Australia’s future or keep sailing blindly towards another decade of debts and deficits.
- Spiro Premetis
It cost $20k to bring a dog to Australia, but that was just the start
If there was a pet under your tree this Christmas, buckle up for a lifetime of expense (along with the love, of course).
- Updated
- Michelle Bowes
December 2024
People pleasing cost me $32,000. Here are four ways to stop it
Since people pleasing is a personality trait, dialling back your spending requires more than learning the nuts and bolts of money management.
- Juli Fraga and Connie Chang
- Opinion
- Leading Indicators
How Victoria became one of the rich world’s most indebted states
Victoria is the fourth-most indebted advanced economy state government outside the US. It may soon find there’s a fine line between nation-building and overbuilding.
- Michael Read
- Opinion
- Economics explained
Why price discrimination can be a good thing
The online age may make it easier for companies to predict what we’re willing to pay. But it also makes it easier for us to share stories of nasty corporate behaviour.
- Richard Holden
November 2024
The small luxury Australians just won’t give up
Australians are hanging onto their subscriptions, reflecting a world in which the little luxuries may be all they have left.
- Lucy Dean
October 2024
Home brands have had a makeover - and customers love it
As families faces stubbornly high mortgage and utilities bills, they are increasingly turning to Woolworths and Coles’ own brands. It is a lucrative sale.
- Gus McCubbing
Fears for Victoria as economy ‘diverges from other states’
Victoria has fallen behind the rest of the country across a range of economic indicators including for house prices, spending and business conditions as economists warn of a “clear divergence” from other states.
- Patrick Durkin and Gus McCubbing
‘A tax on jobs’: Cafes, bars, restaurants going belly up in Victoria
Independent economist Saul Eslake warns that a rise in hospitality insolvencies indicates the health of the Victorian economy is ‘deteriorating’.
- Gus McCubbing and Larry Schlesinger
Victoria slumps for business, as execs warn: ‘It’s really struggling’
CSL chairman Brian McNamee and former NAB CEO Ross McEwan warn that the state is in financial peril, as new business starts fell behind the rest of the country.
- Gus McCubbing and Patrick Durkin
September 2024
- Exclusive
- Shopping
Bunnings CEO: Price gouging claims ignore lowest-price promise
The chief executive of hardware giant Bunnings, Mike Schneider, says the chain takes its promise to beat any competitor’s price seriously, and critics will not find evidence that it has engaged in price gouging.
- James Thomson and Tom McIlroy
It’s getting harder to find extra work to make ends meet
The number of people with multiple jobs is falling as the jobs market tightens.
- Euan Black
- Opinion
- GDP
Treasurer v the RBA: Why Chalmers and Bullock are both right
Jim Chalmers says the economy is getting smashed by high rates, but it’s still running too hot for the RBA. The answer is simple: productivity.
- Michael Stutchbury
August 2024
‘Heartbreaking’: Melbourne stores bite the dust as workers stay home
Small-business owner Chelsea McIntosh has been forced to close down six out of seven gift shops she ran in Melbourne’s CBD as the retail sector has been rattled.
- Gus McCubbing
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Qantas case a timely warning for money-spinner Transurban
The flying kangaroo’s drama is relevant for Australia’s dominant toll operator, which is returning more cash than ever to investors despite political pressure.
- Anthony Macdonald
New signs of weakness in US economy, as consumers halt spending
Disney theme parks, Airbnb home rentals and Hilton hotels are among the latest companies seeing weaker consumer demand.
- Gregory Meyer, Anna Nicolaou and Christopher Grimes
July 2024
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The Good Guys debacle reveals inflation’s unexpected consequence
When inflation peaked at 7.8 per cent 18 months ago, no one could’ve predicted how it would affect some of our big brands.
- Anthony Macdonald