Ask Leon
Ask Leon is where I answer your financial planning and money questions.
Check out our latest articles where I answer your questions or if I have not covered a topic you are interested in, be sure to ask a question from my form below.
Saving or investing: what’s more important?
Planning for your financial future can sometimes seem almost as long and daunting as a marathon. The trick to staying on track is understanding the importance of saving – whether it’s your strength for the race, or your money for the future.
Will you outlive your money, or will your money outlive you?
Australians are living longer and this has the potential to reshape the way we have traditionally planned for retirement.
Father-of-one says he “struggles” on $300K
Phil, a 31-year-old IT sales and development manager says “life would be impossible” on anything less than his $300,000 annual income. Earning more than three times the national average, it’s hard to feel sorry for Phil … but his story is more common than you might think.
Spending squeeze on home ownership dream
The road to owning your own home used to be a relatively straightforward one. However with recent changes to the way banks assess a borrower’s ability to service home loan repayments, your borrowing capacity may have dropped by up to 40%.
This one thing could save you from financial ruin
How can you go from earning $150 million in 15 years, to being millions of dollars in debt? Quite easily it seems if you’re American actor Nicolas Cage, whose extravagant lifestyle and eccentric investments left his finances looking more like a horror story than a heroic Hollywood adventure.
This tax hack could boost your super before June 30
It’s that time of year again when everyone and their accountant start suggesting the best ways to supersize your tax return. Did you know, for instance, that extra payments towards your retirement nest egg can actually help send more cash your way now?
ABC Interview with Garth Russell
I was recently interviewed by Garth Russell on 1233 ABC Radio Newcastle about my thoughts on housing affordability in Australia.
5 reasons I’m keeping my private health insurance
I recently had an experience with the private health system that left me thousands of dollars out of pocket. It got me thinking … is private health insurance worth it?
Is it time to re-think the Great Australian Dream?
A new report from the Grattan Institute has highlighted how rapidly rising house prices have created a housing affordability headache that is playing havoc with the financial futures of many Australians.
Out of time
A few years ago I made the decision to pay someone to mow my lawn. To be honest, I never enjoyed doing it myself but as our family started to grow (from one child, then two, followed by a third) I had less and less time to spend.