With the 2025–26 Budget just around the corner, everyone's asking the same question — what's actually going to change?

While nothing's been officially confirmed yet, the speculation is running hot. And if you follow the betting markets at all, you'll know they've already started placing their chips on a few key areas: capital gains tax, negative gearing, and the treatment of trusts.So what are people expecting? The chatter suggests potential tweaks to how capital gains are taxed — particularly around the discount available on investment assets. Negative gearing is another perennial favourite for reform rumours, with some expecting limits or changes to how property investors can offset losses against other income. And trusts — always a politically loaded topic — are apparently attracting attention again, with murmurs around how distributions are taxed.Now, to be clear — these are market whispers, not policy. Budgets have a way of surprising everyone, and what the bookies back isn't always what ends up in the papers the next morning.But if any of these areas touch your financial situation — whether you hold investment property, have money in a trust structure, or own assets with built-up gains — it's worth having a conversation now, before anything is locked in.Feel free to reach out if you'd like to talk through what might be relevant for you.Anthony | Intertek Financial Planning ... See MoreSee Less

Stagflation is one of those economic scenarios that makes policymakers sweat — and right now, it's worth understanding why.

Stagflation happens when inflation stays stubbornly high *and* economic growth slows down at the same time. It's the worst of both worlds. And here's the uncomfortable truth: the main tool we rely on to fix it — interest rates — isn't really built for this situation.The Reserve Bank has essentially one lever to pull: the cash rate. Raise it to fight inflation, and you risk grinding an already sluggish economy to a halt. Lower it to stimulate growth, and you risk making inflation worse. There's no clean answer.What's worth asking is *why* we've handed this much power to a group of unelected bankers in the first place. Governments stepped back from controlling monetary policy decades ago — partly to remove short-term political pressure from interest rate decisions. The theory was sound. But bankers work with models, forecasts, and historical data. They get it wrong. Sometimes significantly wrong. And ordinary households pay the price through mortgage stress, job losses, or eroded savings.Stagflation exposes the limits of relying on a single blunt instrument to manage a complex economy.If you'd like to talk through what this kind of environment means for your financial position, feel free to reach out — happy to have a conversation.Anthony | Intertek Financial Planning*General information only. Not personal financial advice.* ... See MoreSee Less

Interest rates are back in the headlines — and understanding *why* they move matters more than most people realise.

When central banks raise rates, the idea is straightforward: make borrowing more expensive, slow spending, and bring inflation down. It works well when inflation is being driven by people spending too much — what economists call demand-driven inflation. But history tells a more complicated story.Think back to the 1970s oil shocks. When OPEC cut supply, energy prices surged globally, and inflation followed — not because households were flush with cash and spending freely, but because it simply cost more to produce and move everything. Central banks raised rates aggressively anyway. The result? Stagflation — rising prices *and* rising unemployment at the same time. A painful combination that took years to unwind.We saw echoes of this again after 2022, when the energy price shock triggered by the Ukraine conflict pushed inflation higher across much of the world. Raising rates can't make oil cheaper or fix a supply chain — it just makes mortgages harder to service.That distinction — demand-driven versus supply-driven inflation — really matters when central banks are deciding their next move, and it matters for your household budget and investment decisions too.If you'd like to talk through what the current rate environment means for your situation, feel free to reach out. Always happy to chat.Anthony | Intertek Financial Planning*This is general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice.* ... See MoreSee Less