Unfortunately, many people would reach their mid-fifties and conclude that their savings are not on track to finance a satisfactory lifestyle in retirement. Fortunately, worthwhile steps can often be taken to boost their nest-eggs in the countdown to retiring.

The New Year has ushered in a boom for US equities, with the sharemarket there invigorated by a new President spruiking a pro-business agenda.

An astute way to begin a new year is to take a close look at your personal finances – including your super and non-super investment portfolios and your retirement-saving strategies – and to think about what improvements should be made.

The United States Federal Reserve has announced a 25-basis-point increase to the federal funds rate – a key driver of prevailing interest rates in the US and other countries. It’s the first such move since the Fed’s long-awaited "liftoff" in December 2015, and only the second rise in more than a decade.

It’s that time of year again – our inboxes are now being deluged with a variety of weird and wonderful predictions for sharemarkets and economies in the coming year.

By Bill McNabb, chairman and chief executive officer, The Vanguard Group, Inc.

The curtain coming down on another year has a way of focusing the mind on how time is passing. It is also the time of year when market pundits put their forecasting hats on and share their best thoughts on what is in store for us in the year ahead.

There are times in our lives when the need for gaining specialist professional advice may seem particularly critical. And for many super fund members, this is one of those times.

Would you be willing to help your adult children financially if they were experiencing financial difficulties? And would you be willing to help your elderly parents if they were in financial need?

In dollar terms alone, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) hardly rank among the heavy-hitters of Australian investment.

The good, the bad and the ugly is, of course, the title of the stylised 1966 western starring Clint Eastwood. It is also an apt way to describe common habits of investors.

When thinking about our family insurance needs, a basic error or trap is to focus mainly on life cover without giving enough thought to gaining adequate income-protection insurance.

You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that more than 90 per cent of the investors who established SMSFs in the June quarter are aged between 25 and 64, as shown in the tax office’s latest Self-managed super fund statistical report.

A look behind the recent statistics for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) underlines their multi-faceted growth, globally and in Australia.

Like it or not – and ready or not – we live in a disruptive world.

Imagine being asked to choose from a display of 30 different chocolates and 24 flavours of jam. Chances are you would have trouble making a choice and perhaps may end up without a single chocolate or a jar of jam.

Recently-published research by the CSRIO-Monash Superannuation Research Cluster suggests that a large proportion of retirees could be described as "slow on the draw" when it comes to their account-based superannuation pensions.

Reading the latest report card on Australia’s actively managed investment funds, you could be forgiven for thinking that the profession of ‘stock-picking’ has had its day.

Mark Twain was a great author but ‘stupendously incompetent’ when it came to investing, according to a feature in Time magazine earlier this year.

A growing market for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is giving investors more flexibility when it comes to building their portfolios.

Building an investment portfolio for a self-managed super fund can leave some trustees feeling like explorers, trying to find the best route to an uncertain destination – the so-called place for a ‘comfortable retirement’ – but without the help of some basic tools like a map and compass.

Can economic analysis make you a better investor?

The holding of adequate life, total & permanent disability and salary-continuance insurance is a critical part of sound personal financial and wealth management.

A recent personal finance feature published by Bloomberg asks readers to guess "who just turned 40".

Australia has, of course, a dual personal investment/saving sectors: assets held inside and outside super.

What are the hardest aspects of running your self-managed super fund (SMSF)? Is it the paperwork, all of the investment rules or the fundamental challenge of choosing where to invest your money?

Concentration is generally a trait to be encouraged.

A common way to measure the sustainability of retirement income is to calculate an annual withdrawal rate – the amount of income as a proportion of a retiree’s total capital.

Procrastination and inertia can, of course, be highly damaging behavioural traits for investors.

The number-crunching of online personal finance calculators offered by super funds, fund managers and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) can help us to better understand our financial circumstances.

It is a good time to take a simple temperature check.

Investors are increasingly using Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as a straightforward, low-cost way to gain exposure to overseas shares. 

The beginning of a new financial year is a peak time of the year for beginning a superannuation pension by members of large funds and self-managed funds.

Investors, sports fans and financial advisers share a common interest in the power of numbers.

When investment markets are particularly volatile, investors are more likely to participate in performance-chasing behaviour that is potentially detrimental to their long-term returns.

The latest edition of a key Vanguard research paper, The case for low-cost index-fund investing, released on 30 June, emphasises the contribution of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to the global growth in investor awareness of the attributes of low-cost, index investing.

Some financial advisers recommend that retirees set aside one to two years of living expenses if possible in a cash fund. This is to act as buffer to avoid having to sell growth assets to pay retirement income during a market downturn.

The solid median return of large balanced super funds over the seven to 10 years to June 30 highlights once again why a disciplined, long-term approach to investing makes much sense – whether investments are held inside or outside super. 

Political shocks by their nature provoke strong reactions from investment markets.

The latest edition of a key Vanguard research paper, The case for low-cost index-fund investing, released on 30 June, emphasises the contribution of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to the global growth in investor awareness of the attributes of low-cost, index investing.