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James KirbyAssociate Editor – Wealth

James Kirby, Associate Editor-Wealth, is one of Australia’s most experienced financial journalists. James hosts The Australian’s twice-weekly Money Puzzle podcast.He is a regular commentator on radio and television, the author of several business biographies and has served on the Walkley Awards Advisory BoardHe was a co-founder and managing editor at Business Spectator and Eureka Report and has previously worked at the Australian Financial Review and the South China Morning Post. Since January 2025 James is a director of Ecstra, the financial literacy foundation.

@kirby_journo

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WealthWealth

A worker handles ABC Bullion one kilogram gold bars at the ABC Refinery smelter in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on Thursday, July 2, 2020. Western investors piling into gold in the pandemic are more than making up for a collapse in demand for physical metal from traditional retail buyers in China and India, helping push prices to an eight-year high. Photographer: David Gray/Bloomberg

Fed has lit the fuse on new gold rush

Retail investors appear convinced that gold is ready to run and they are joining central banks in buying up the yellow metal.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos October 12, 2022: Photo of CBA CEO Matt Comyn during the AGM at the MCG.Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Ascui

The week the banks turned mean

Cushioned by government support, Australia’s big banks are cutting their deposit rates for savings accounts and crushing their last remaining competitors.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos APRIL, 06, 2021: A pedestrian passes the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

The unkindest cut: Banks do as they like with your deposits

Banks just don’t need savers like they used to thanks to more than $200bn in government funding from the height of Covid-19 underpinning their ability to cut deposit rates.

James Kirby

WealthFinancial Services

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 26: Pedestrians walk past a Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ATM on February 26, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. Commonwealth Bank's latest financial results reveal a robust performance, with the bank reporting a record profit of $9.6 billion for the 2022-23 fiscal year, underscoring its position as Australia's largest and most profitable lender. The strong earnings were driven by solid loan growth, improved margins, and a focus on cost control, positioning the bank for continued success in a challenging economic environment. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The $350m a year killer blow for cash users

CBA has provocatively detailed for the first time that it costs $350m a year to supply cash to its branches, in a move that will open up the vexed cash services issue yet again.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

Balance concept. 3D US dollar sign outweighs golden piggy banks, piggy banks fall from scales. Creative conceptual background; saving investment generic

The results are out so are your favourite stocks good value now?

Now that we have the results from the top companies, we can see which ones are bargains and which are likely overpriced. Here’s the top six to ponder:

James Kirby

WealthWealth

CANBERRA, Australia, NewsWire Photos. June 24, 2024: David Pocock and Kylea Tink hold a press conference to introduce housing plan bill at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Teal group turns against proposed new super tax

The government’s struggle to get a new super tax over the line in parliament has received a setback with eight independent MPs joining ranks to call for urgent amendments.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

Piggy bank. destroyed savings. interest rate rise generic

How Australians scorched their pandemic savings

The evaporation of a savings buffer built up during Covid-19 means consumer spending will remain soft and personal tax cuts will not work as effectively.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

Businessman checking stock market chart on laptop. Trading app on device screen. Fund manager looking at stock market chart. Businessman making money as crypto trader investor broker. Young man at the office trading Online Using laptop. TradingView Picture: istock

Where are the sharemarket bargain hunters?

A ‘most distrusted’ sharemarket rally has come to a halt thanks to a reversal that some key players think hasn’t been severe enough.

James Kirby

commentaryBusiness

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA : Newswire Photos OCTOBER 03 2023: Michelle Bullock arrives at the Reserve Bank in Sydney. Photo by:NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Dividend dilemma for CBA and banking rivals

Next week the board at ‘dividend influencer’ CBA must make a call on the full year dividend – and it’s going to be a difficult decision.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 1: A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 1, 2024 in New York City. New economic data showed initial jobless claims rose the highest in a year and a manufacturing index that measures factory activity in the U.S. came in worse than expected, causing renewed worries of a recession and a broad sell off in stocks, including the Dow sinking 1.21%, the S&P 500 1.37% and the Nasdaq 2.3%. Jeenah Moon/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Jeenah Moon / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Why the sharemarket sell-off could get a lot worse

There is no single factor behind the current selling frenzy – rather it is the combination of six factors that could ultimately push the market even lower.

James Kirby

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/james-kirby/page/10