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Jan 14, 2025 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | Jamie Nemtsas |Jon Glass |James Dunn
Shareholders in the Australia’s leading lottery and Keno operator, The Lottery Corporation (ASX:TLC), will await with keen interest the interim results for the first half of the 2025 financial year.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | James Dunn |Nicholas Way |David Murphy
As 2024 recedes in the rear-view mirror, the share market’s gains go into the past performance file and nothing about 2025 is guaranteed. To recap, the share market – that is, the S&P/ASX 200 index – gained 7.5 per cent in 2024, or about 11.4 per cent with dividends included. That is a bang on-target for the long-term average for the share market.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | Jon Glass |James Dunn |Nicholas Way
As we age, our circle of friends shrinks. At the same time, the opportunities to begin and nurture fresh relationships are harder to find. But instead of giving up, you can address this challenging question – what is friendship? To help you do so, this article will pose questions that allow you to reflect on what friendship means to you. A starting point might be the self-help section of your local bookshop.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | James Dunn |Anthony Asher |Penny Pryor
It is well-known history that courtesy of former Treasurer Peter Costello, fully franked dividends paid by listed companies are refunded partially for 15 per cent taxpayers (SMSFs in the accumulation phase) and fully for people paying no tax (SMSFs in the pension phase). Particularly in the latter situation, the fact that the franked dividends are refunded fully by the ATO results in effective grossed-up yields that are much higher in the recipients’ hands than the nominal dividend yield.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | Jamie Nemtsas |James Dunn
Outside of the capital Adelaide, South Australia is blessed with several excellent locations for retirement, but the one that is really turning heads is Victor Harbour. Nestled in the Fleurieu Peninsula about 85 kilometres from Adelaide, it’s a small community of 5,000 people that is fast becoming a favourite for retirees from all walks of life.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | Jamie Nemtsas |James Dunn
Shareholders in the independently owned investment manager WAM Capital (ASX:WAM) have received 7.75 cents a share dividend for the six months to June 30, 2024. Of this amount, 60 per cent was franked (4.65 cents a share), reflecting its corporate tax rate of 30 per cent, with the remaining 3.1 cents unfranked. On the same day the dividend payment was made, October 31, participants in its dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) – the price was set at $1.51946 a share – received their new securities.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | Nicholas Way |James Dunn |Jamie Nemtsas
Senior Australians could be a big winner if a Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) review of merchants’ card payment costs and surcharging recommends abolishing fees on debit card transactions. The retail payments regulation review, which is calling for submissions by December 3, 2024, will examine whether the RBA can do more to put downward pressure on merchant card payment costs and whether the surcharging framework remains fit for purpose – an initiative welcomed by seniors’ advocacy groups.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | David Murphy |James Dunn |Nicholas Way
Many decades ago, my teaching career took a turn into the world of distance education. It proved productive, giving me the opportunity to work overseas and enjoy creating a variety of courses for study. At the time, the leading institution in this form of education was The Open University in the UK, created in the 1960s with the aim of providing second-chance university courses for those who had missed out after completing their schooling.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | Jamie Nemtsas |James Dunn |Nicholas Way
Shareholders felt the love from the alternative real estate investment manager Qualitas (ASX:QAL) in the year to June 30, 2024, with a final payout of 5.75 cents a share taking the annual dividend to eight cents – a seven per increase compared with 2023. In a financial year when many companies cut their dividends, Qualitas went against the flow, using a 17 per cent increase in after-tax profit to $26.2 million to reward shareholders.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
thegoldentimes.com.au | Jamie Nemtsas |James Dunn |Nicholas Way
If Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2024 for a second term, markets might experience renewed volatility in the US dollar. In his previous term (2017-21), Trump’s policies – ranging from trade disputes (especially China) to fiscal stimulus – put downward pressure on the greenback.
