Locked out of property market? Five better places for Millennials to put money
By Clayton Howes – CEO of MoneyMe Life sucks for an aspiring property owner right now. You probably already know that the average price of a house in Australia ($656,800) is several (eight) times that of the average full-time yearly income ($78,832). You’ve probably already heard that in the past five years alone, wages have grown significantly slower (13 per cent) than house prices (41 per cent), especially if that house is in Sydney (70 per cent). It’s enough to make you want to drown your sorrows in the most expensive smashed avo and latte combo available! But honestly – enough, already. If you’re as bored as I am of […]
Sydney fintech Stake is starting its $0 brokerage US share trading service
Sydney startup Stake will launch its $0 brokerage US share trading service within the next few days, giving ordinary Australians a low-cost opportunity to invest in brands like Amazon, Facebook and Tesla. The fintech first revealed in June its plans for the new service but the details hadn’t been settled at the time. Now founders Dan Silver and Matt Leibowitz have revealed to Business Insider that the only user fee would be 70 basis points on the foreign exchange rate when loading up and withdrawing from the US dollar trading account. Stake had also previously flagged intentions to introduce paid services on top of the basic product, but Leibowitz now […]
Could Xinja be Australia’s first neobank?
Banking startup Xinja is built solely for mobile and will target tech-savvy consumers. Fintech startup Xinja is on track to becoming Australia’s first neobank, otherwise known as a challenger bank, and has already raised close to $3 million this year. The funding will help launch 5,000 prepaid debit cards to customers before expanding its product offering to bank accounts and mortgages. Xinja will provide a banking solution for tech-savvy customers who want to be able to operate completely via their mobile phone. It will enable customers to use new accounts instantly, to see transactions in real time and to follow their money using simple virtual tools. The government announced in […]
Sniip to deliver real-time billing
Mobile shopping and payments app Sniip says it has landed a deal with Xero to bring real-time billing to small and medium sized businesses. Sniip co-founder and CEO Damien Vasta said his platform, which uses blockchain technology, would provide a central way for Xero’s customers to receive and pay bills. He said Sniip would be available to Xero’s customer network, allowing transactions to integrate with their accounting system. “Users can scan and pay their bills within seconds using Sniip’s trademarked circular QR code, eliminating the need to enter a long account or payment reference number or bank details or waste time paying over the phone,” Mr Vasta said. “Mobile payments […]
You could buy 100 boxes of avocados for the price of one bitcoin
Even with all the hand-wringing about bubbles in stock and bond markets, it’s hard to ignore what’s going on in the world of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin. The value of the largest digital currency continues to soar to record highs after weathering a split last week. It has increased more than threefold this year, compared with a doubling in the value of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the best performer in the S&P 500 Index. At the record price of $US3,486.73 reached overnight, one bitcoin could probably fund a nice holiday. By comparison, one share of Vertex at $US154.82 would get you a fancy dinner. Here’s some other stuff you could buy for the […]
Here’s how Bitcoin can get to $US100,000 in 2021
Bitcoin is trading at record highs on Monday, but the cryptocurrency may still be far from hitting its ceiling. The cryptocurrency has rallied 16.19% since July 31, despite last week’s fork that split it in two. It’s up 465% since last year. According to analysis by Dennis Porto, a bitcoin investor and Harvard academic, the bitcoin’s price could hit $US100,000 per coin if it continues to follow one of tech’s “golden rules,” Moore’s Law. The rule, which was devised in 1965 by Intel cofounder Gordon Moore, describes the exponential improvements of digital technology. “Moore’s law specifically applied to the number of transistors on a circuit but can be applied to […]
Australia Post signs on its first businesses with its Digital ID
Online job marketplace Airtasker, credit union CUA, foreign exchange company Travelex, and Queensland Police are among the first adopters of Australia Post’s new digital identity service as it seeks to corner the local market in proving credentials when the online and physical worlds collide. The Digital ID has been under development since early 2016 and will allow people to rapidly verify their identity via their smartphone using stored biometric data and other information. The technology will allow individuals to apply for passports or mortgage by mobile and Australia Post’s executive general manager of trusted e-commerce services Andrew Walduck said it was now entering commercial use and would become a growth […]
Bipartisan push for the Reserve Bank to back Australian bitcoin
Labor and Coalition senators have crossed the political divide to call on the Reserve Bank to embrace bitcoins as an official form of currency or risk the future competitiveness of Australia’s $145 billion a year financial services industry. The push from Labor senator Sam Dastyari and Liberal senator Jane Hume comes after the digital currency soared to an all time high of $4070 per bitcoin on Monday, up from less than 10¢ per coin in 2010. Senator Dastyari said when he first raised bitcoin in the Senate, one of his colleagues came to him and said: ‘I don’t get what the issue is, don’t they just melt all the coin […]
