Humble Goode Financial | Blog

Successful investing isn't just about crunching numbers; it's about mastering your own psychology. The field of behavioral finance studies the intersection of logic, emotion, and cognitive biases, revealing why even the most rational investors can make irrational decisions. Understanding these biases is the first step toward a more disciplined and profitable investment journey.

June 2025 was a month marked by significant geopolitical events, divergent central bank policies, and notable movements in currency and commodity markets. A monthly market review from Mercer for June 2025 sheds light on these key developments and their impact on the global financial landscape.

Getting good with money isn't about complex spreadsheets or restrictive budgets; it's about building a solid foundation, one brick at a time. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by finance, know that you can start fresh today with just a few gentle changes.

Investing for the long term requires a steady hand and a clear perspective on how different assets behave over time. A recent June 2025 report from Mercer on Asset Class Performance provides a fascinating visual journey of how various investments have fared over both a 10-year and a 30-year horizon. These charts not only track the growth of a hypothetical investment but also map out major market events, offering context to the peaks and valleys along the way.

But only if people owning a home get it right.

A reader recently wrote in about a mistake she made that lost her hundreds of thousands of dollars when she rented out her family home. However, if done correctly, she could have taken advantage of one of the most generous tax breaks available for Australian property owners.

The start of the second quarter of 2025 brought significant turbulence to equity markets, largely driven by new tariff policies. For active equity investors, this period of high volatility has created both challenges and potential opportunities.

The investment landscape is becoming increasingly complex, making it harder to shield portfolios from market volatility. For financial advisers, the old rules of diversification may no longer be enough to protect their clients' wealth. As major economic shifts and new market dynamics take hold, a deeper understanding of what lies "beneath the hood" of a portfolio is more crucial than ever.

The proposal to include unrealised capital gains in calculating income subject to the additional 15% tax rate on super fund balances over $3 million should lead to an effective cap on balances of $3 million. (The additional personal tax involved is referred to in the draft legislation as Division 296 tax liability).  If the administrative costs to individuals of complying with this change, and the cash flow problems of making such tax payments, are as large as critics have argued, no one will want to hold assets above $3 million in super.

In that case the deterrent effect of this change will mean that such taxation never needs to be applied. And the mark of a good deterrent is that it is so effective in affecting behaviour that it never needs to be applied. Individuals will transfer assets above $3 million out of super accounts into their personal account.

With property prices rising and demand for housing increasing, many homeowners are exploring the idea of property development, often literally in their own backyards.

If you are unhappy with your superannuation fund or want different services and features, you are free to move to a different superannuation fund.

27 important issues you should address before June 30 to ensure that your SMSF or other super fund are in order, and that you are making the most of the strategies available.

Here we go again. We have only a short time left to the end of the financial year to put our SMSF or other super funds in order and ensure we are making the most of the strategies available to us. Here is a checklist of the most important issues that you should address with your advisers before the year-end.

There weren’t many things I disagreed with in Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of

Money. Here are some top lessons from the book.

It is rare that you read a book and find yourself nodding in agreement with most of the

things an author writes. Yet there I was nodding away while reading The Psychology of

Money by Morgan Housel.

$3 million in a super is a lot – until it isn’t.

The landslide election of the Labor Government in the House of Representatives and the composition of the Senate means that there’s not much standing in the way of the implementation of the extended Division 296 Tax Liability. This includes the taxation of unrealised capital gains in superannuation. Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has confirmed that the Party does intend to introduce the stalled bill again.

Riding the Waves: Bull vs Bear Markets Explained

Every investor loves a bull market, but bear markets are an unavoidable part of the journey. According to Mercer's Bull & Bear Charts – March 2025 report, understanding how these cycles play out can help investors build resilience, stay calm during downturns, and stay focused on long-term gains.

Let’s break down what this 2025 report reveals about market behavior in Australia and the U.S., and what that means for investors today.

How have the world’s financial markets really performed over the last decade or even three? If you’ve ever wondered whether equities truly beat bonds over time, or how global events have shaped market returns, Mercer’s latest report, Asset Class Performance – March 2025, has some compelling answers.