A remarkable 100,000 Australians refinanced their mortgage to a better rate in the three months to June this year. If you have yet to join the party, the pathway to lower mortgage costs is now clear, here's what to do...

Mortgage broker, Christian Stevens of the Flint group, joins Associate Editor - Wealth, James Kirby in this episode.

In today's show, we cover:

• How to cut your mortgage rate without moving banks 
• Reducing mortgage rates by switching banks
• Long-term interest-only loans for experienced investors
• Spare Bedroom tax: You cannot be serious!

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Roger Montgomery is the founder of Montgomery Investment Management. While he is into adventure sports, when it comes to investing he's acutely focused on managing risk. From working at a fish and chip shop to managing $1.5bn in funds, he offers his advice on wealth creation for those in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. 

In this bonus episode of The Money Puzzle, Sydney fund manager Roger Montgomery sits down with The Australian's Wealth Editor, Julie-anne Sprague to chat about how he learnt to invest.

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Investment scams empowered by AI are going to get worse in the years ahead - and no amount of regulation is going to stop 'bad actors' inside finance. 

Self-defence in the form of financial literacy is the answer: investors need it, kids in school need it, but the government has put the issue on the back burner. It’s time for a change.

Tracey West, financial education manager at Ecstra, the financial literacy foundation joins Associate Editor - James Kirby in this episode.

In today's episode, we cover:

• Scam watch - What investors need to know 
• Why the First Guardian scandal is a taste of things to come
• Should schools make financial literacy mandatory?
• How AI 'fakes' will drive a new wave of investment fraud

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The Federal government is pushing big super funds into the housing market: That market is currently dominated by 'mum and dad' investors - Would big funds do better? Overseas experience of major institutional ownership of housing shows that rents rise when big funds buy into housing because they need a higher running yield. In turn, traditional buyers get priced out.

Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at Ray White joins Associate Editor - Wealth, James Kirby in this episode.

In today's show, we cover:

• The risk of letting big funds into housing
• Universal 5 per cent Home Deposit to launch early
• Investors monitor accelerated housing incentives
•  Good news for renovators - the replacement cost is back to normal
  
  
  

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This week's economic summit coincided with a surprise move by the Albanese government to lift the deeming rate for the first time in four years: The measure reduces access to the pension for wealthier Australians. Moreover, it's exactly the sort of change that advisers have warned are set to come down the line as Treasurer Jim Chalmers exerts his influence in the second term government.

Will Hamilton of Hamilton Wealth Partners joins Associate Editor - Wealth James Kirby in this episode.

In today's episode we cover

• Deeming rate lift -The first move?
• Super tax confirmed unchanged  
• CGT and negative gearing - Key risks
• Save the super performance tests 
  
  

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Immigration numbers were meant to float lower this year but a surprise pick up in numbers over the last few months coincides with a tightening of the rental vacancy rates across the market. For renters it means any short-term easing in pressure is now off the table, but for property investors it signals a return to rising rental income.

Pete Wargent of the AllenWargent Property Buyers joins Associate Editor - Wealth, James Kirby in this episode.

In today's episode, we cover

• The 'you can rent anything market' returns
• Investors respond to stronger outlook for rental returns
• The gap between residential and office vacancy rates tells a WFH story
• Should older property investors change their habits?

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The new super tax may dominate the headlines, but for most investors with less than $3m in super, a bigger headache is navigating increasingly risky marketing promotions in finance.Off the back of the recent First Guardian scandal - where some investors were offered 'free super reviews' - today we take a hard look at booming business of luring people into switching super funds.

Liam Shorte of the Sonas Wealth Group joins Associate Editor - Wealth James Kirby in today's episode.

In today's episode, we cover:

•  New super tax facing delays
• ‘Free Super Reviews’ could turn out expensive
• An easy way to check if your fund is doing well 
• Optimising tax-free income outside super 
  
  

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If it wasn’t said by a top financial adviser, you might dismiss it as a quote out of context, but  Partners Wealth Group Jack Tossol is not kidding: He says a generation that has ‘sunk everything’ into the family home will miss the chance to have a successful tax-deductible investment plan.

It’s a provocative notion, challenging die-hard principles of money management, but with house prices moving higher again...you have to listen.

Financial adviser Jack Tossol of Partners Wealth Group joins Associate Editor - Wealth, James Kirby,  in this episode.

In today’s show, we cover

• No tax deduction, no income…Is home ownership overrated?

• Why ‘Rentvesting’ is worth revisiting

• Are you facing decades of ‘dead money' in your home mortgage?

• Challenging the ‘retirement sweet spot’

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 In this bonus episode of The Money Puzzle, The Australian’s Wealth Editor, Julie-anne Sprague, unpacks what it takes to be a great investor with one of the nation's top stockpickers, Jun Bei Liu. How did Liu learn to invest? What did she learn when things went wrong and what's her advice for everyday investors wanting to build their wealth?

Jun Bei Liu of Ten Cap joins Wealth Editor Julie-anne Sprague in this bonus episode.

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Inside the advice sector, they call it ‘the sweet spot’: The perfect amount of money to have in super that also guarantees you access to a government pension. With the majority of Australians accessing full or part-time pensions, it’s a big game and the rules have been clear for a long time.

But those ‘pension access’ rules may soon be overhauled as the government launches a major tax review this month at the so-called ‘productivity summit.

Hugh Robertson of Centaur Financial Services joins Associate Editor - Wealth James Kirby in this episode.

In today's show, we cover...

• The retirement sweet spot for optimising pension access
• The retirement black spot - just missing out on a pension 
• Why the pension asset test may soon be tightened
• Dividend Reinvestment Plans - Not for everyone

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