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Jan 13, 2025 | 
mondaq.com | Paul Benson
One of my many New Year's resolutions was to eat healthier. A nice idea, you might say, but what does that mean? At the end of2024, the Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule to helpme (and everyone else) eat better in 2025 by updating itsdefinition of "healthy" claims on food labels. In order to qualify for a "healthy" claim, foods mustnow have a certain degree of food from a number of groups, such asfruit, vegetables, grains and dairy.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
mondaq.com | Paul Benson
Afew months ago (August 2024), I asked whether "alcohol inmoderation" would be eliminated from the 2025 dietaryguidelines. My post was motivated by the increasing body ofscientific literature suggesting that any amount of alcohol canhave adverse health effects – contrary to the long-heldnotion that moderate drinking (1 or 2 drinks a day) was consideredsafe.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
mondaq.com | Paul Benson
On November 18, 2024, the Council of the European Union
published its new Directive on Liability for Defective
Products. The directive will go into force on December 8, 2024. Member states will then have two years – until December 9,
2026 – to adopt it into law. It applies to products that are
placed in the market or put into operation after the expiration of
the implementation period.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
mondaq.com | Paul Benson
Every year The American Tort Reform Foundation publishes its
Judicial Hellholes® report which highlights prominent
jurisdictions across the United States with a reputation (deserved
or not) for enabling questionable lawsuits, welcoming forum
shopping, and expanding civil liability for defendants.
The venues at the top of the list are the usual suspects; courts
that have had the "hellhole" reputation for multiple
years.
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Nov 23, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Benson
Money contributor November 24, 2024 — 5.00am November 24, 2024 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. I’ve always been advised to hold a proportion of my investment portfolio in bonds. When I questioned the low earnings recently the answer has been that, (a) the returns would improve as interest rates dropped, and, (b) bonds are required to balance the overall portfolio.
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
brisbanetimes.com.au | Paul Benson
Money contributor November 16, 2024 — 4.00am November 16, 2024 — 4.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. My wife and I are selling our family holiday house and hope to settle in January. We would like to put as much of the sale into our self managed super fund and believe we could add $120,000 each before we are 75. My wife turns 75 in April, and I will be 75 in February.
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Nov 9, 2024 | 
theage.com.au | Paul Benson
Opinion November 10, 2024 — 5.01am November 10, 2024 — 5.01am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. My father is 92. He’s in reasonable health, and we hope he has several more years ahead of him. My husband and I are planning our retirement, and we don’t know how to think about my future inheritance.
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Nov 6, 2024 | 
geekdad.com | Robin Brooks |Paul Benson
Here I am again, a new month and a new pile of books. After a productive October, I hope to keep up the momentum this month. Here then is my November 2024 Book Preview!The Book Club PickEarly book club in November (because we didn’t meet in October) and the pick is The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods. I’m not entirely sure I’m going to love this book, but it is at least about books, so I should be able to glean some enjoyment from it, no matter what the story.
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Nov 2, 2024 | 
theage.com.au | Paul Benson
I lost a lot of money while investing. Will it reduce my tax bill? Opinion November 3, 2024 — 5.01am November 3, 2024 — 5.01am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. I have unfortunately accumulated capital losses numbering in the tens of thousands of dollars from some poor investments. How can I take advantage of these from a tax perspective, and are they at all transferable to another entity?
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Benson
Money contributor October 27, 2024 — 5.01am October 27, 2024 — 5.01am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Our nephew turns 21 early next year, and we will be gifting him $21,000 to mark the occasion. Can you recommend somewhere we can park/invest this money on his behalf until he is ready to use it? I anticipate he will put this money towards a deposit on a property in the next 5-10 years.
