ask paul

Q. I am 71 and have $100,000 in a term deposit. With interest rates so low I need to find an alternative to this. Is there anything you can suggest? - Margaret The problem here, Margaret, is risk. $100,000 is a lot of money and I do understand that ... More

Q. Hi Paul, we are mid-to-late 60s, have our mortgage down to zero balance (but kept the loan account open). We are adding the maximum salary sacrifice to our super (up to $25,000), but I am reluctant to add more to super (eggs in one basket). We have ... More

I am in the process of divorcing my wife and have moved to Thailand while my wife plans to remain in Australia. At age 70, optimising pension payments is critical for me. We have about $400,000 each in superannuation and the sale of our house should ... More

My husband and I (in our early 30s) have recently moved from the NSW central west to the mid north coast after deciding that we did not want to purchase a house and commit to living in Dubbo for the long term. We currently have $50,000 in the bank ... More

We have nothing to complain about. Now in retirement, we are in our mid-50s, (mostly) debt free, own our home, have $48,000 in shares, another $23,000 in managed funds and $22,000 with a peer-to-peer lender across one-month and three-year and five-year ... More

Q. I'm 32 and my wife Annabel is 28. We have recently sold our first home due to my moving for work. We plan to rent in our new location and we will have around $150,000 cash in savings. I currently have a Vanguard fund with around $10,000 invested ... More

Q. I am a 56-year-old engineer who has a $400,000 mortgage via an interest-only loan and $70,000 in credit card debt. My 49-year-old wife works part-time on $20,000pa and we have two children, six and eight. My credit card debt accumulated via repeated ... More

Q. I am a 25-year-old South Australian planning to go backpacking overseas for at least a year from April 2020. Before I leave I intend to reserve about $10,000 to help get me back on my feet for when I return to Australia in mid-2021. I am considering ... More

Q. We're hoping to retire in our early 50s - my wife is 46 and I'm 47. We both work full time with a combined income of $200,000 before tax, and hope to save at least $30,000 each year. We still have a few more years of private school fees to ... More

Q. Hi Paul, My wife and I are 44 and 45, both working full time with a combined income of about $220,000pa. We have a mortgage with an offset account, which is incurring 0% interest as our savings of about $60,000 are equal to the outstanding mortgage. ... More