Our Team

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

Latest

Tips and trapsHealth

Six things you need to know about health insurance before you switch

Confused? Health insurance is crucial and complex, but it gets easier if you grasp a few key details. This is what you need to consider.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

Melbourne and Sydney house prices may have further to fall.

Why Sydney and Melbourne home prices have further to fall

Monthly declines are significant. Three key negative signals persist across the market.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

The manager looks at the chart printed on a transparent material

As financial advice moves up-market, super funds stand still

Top financial advisers are relentlessly concentrating on more lucrative clients but instead of capitalising, super funds could blow their opportunity to offer choice for everyday investors.

James Kirby

THE LISTWealth

Financial advisers Cathy Ding, Richard Felice, Charlie Viola. Composite picture

Meet this year’s Top 150 financial advisers

Fifty more names of new talents and veterans teaming up to become powerful forces in the market. See who made this year’s The Deal/Barron’s Top 150 Financial Advisers list.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

King of the financial advisers retains his crown in expanded list

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management has taken top honours again as financial adviser Garth Hu tops the expanded 2024 edition of The Top 150 Financial Advisers list.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - AUGUST 17, 2023.Former Treasurer Wayne Swan at the 49th ALP National Conference 2023 in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Are the scandals sweeping big super a signal to switch funds?

Big super has delivered some significant dirt of late but if you think leaping from one scandal-plagued fund to one untarnished so far will protect you, think again.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

IPSWICH, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos NOVEMBER 3, 2023: Former treasurer Wayne Swan during the State Funeral Service for the Hon William (Bill) George Hayden AC at St. MaryÃs Catholic Church in Ipswich. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Passing the buck – super fund has to do better than this

The Cbus super fund, under fire for alleged delays of payments to vulnerable investors, is not going to dig itself out of this corner just by blaming someone else.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

QLDVOTES24 Ã. Wayne Swan watches on as the count continues at the Labor Headquarters Election Campaign Party at Murrumba Downs Tavern. Pics Adam Head

Why Cbus is simply the canary in the coalmine

Too big to fail, the battered industry fund Cbus has turned the spotlight on the wider failings of big super.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

Adult man in glasses working on laptop outdoors.; angry investor generic money investing

Big super’s back office lets retirees down again

Super funds are increasingly failing retirees due to technical ‘outages’ all while they dictate to listed companies how they should run their operations.

James Kirby

WealthWealth

The âFearless Girlâ a bronze sculpture by Kristen Visbal, stands across from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building in the Financial District in New York City on November 6, 2024. Wall Street stocks surged in opening trading on Wall Street Wednesday after US voters sent Donald Trump back to the White House and delivered him a Republican Senate. Major indices were up 1.8 percent or more in the early going as hopes about expected tax cuts and regulatory easing more than offset worries about higher tariffs. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Market Trump bump a US-only response, so look abroad

Evidence shows Australian investors have been pulling back from US markets but if they want to cash in on a Trump presidency then they are moving in the wrong direction.

James Kirby

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/james-kirby/page/8