Personal Finance

10/23/19 • 53 min

1 Listener

Many people struggle with managing money. For example, last month, Australian ABC News reported “1.9 million Australians are struggling with credit card debts” and that the average Australian credit card debt is more than $3,000.

To discuss personal finance, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny invited Griffith University lecturer Dr Di Johnson onto the program. Issues for discussion included:

Credit cards – friend or foe?
Is it ok to borrow money to buy a car?
Is rent money dead money? Alternatively, should you do everything you can to get into the property market as soon as you can?
How do you encourage good financial habits in young people?

Di’s research interests include personal and household finance, behavioural economics and financial planning. She is a member of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Financial Capability Research Network.

In addition to teaching and researching, Di is a regular commentator on financial issues on ABC radio and TV here in Brisbane.

During the conversation, Di noted that, in Australia, free financial counselling is available for people in financial trouble:

Financial Counselling page on ASIC Moneysmart website

Note this podcast episode contains information of a general nature only and does not constitute financial advice, which always needs to consider people's individual circumstances.

To discuss personal finance, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny invited Griffith University lecturer Dr Di Johnson onto the program. Issues for discussion included:

Credit cards – friend or foe?
Is it ok to borrow money to buy a car?
Is rent money dead money? Alternatively, should you do everything you can to get into the property market as soon as you can?
How do you encourage good financial habits in young people?

In addition to teaching and researching, Di is a regular commentator on financial issues on ABC radio and TV here in Brisbane.

During the conversation, Di noted that, in Australia, free financial counselling is available for people in financial trouble:

Financial Counselling page on ASIC Moneysmart website

Note this podcast episode contains information of a general nature only and does not constitute financial advice, which always needs to consider people's individual circumstances.

Previous Episode

Money on the Screen - Film Industry Economics

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny discusses the economics of the film industry with his good friend Tim Hughes, who spent ten years working in the film industry in the UK and Australia. Tim worked as a crew member on TV shows such as Peak Practice, The Bill, and Coronation Street, and on film productions including Tomb Raider, Scooby-Doo, and Swimming Upstream.

Currently, Tim’s a Brisbane-based businessman who’s had a range of ventures over the years. His latest business is Urban Ergo, a distributor of Humanscale ergonomic products which improve health and comfort at work. Despite his change of career, which he talks about in the interview, Tim has never lost his passion for the film industry.

As noted in the conversation, host Gene Tunny is a long-time critic of government subsidies for the film industry. For instance, see his Policy magazine article:

Special rates for special mates: The case against film industry subsidies

Regarding the issue of local Australian content on streaming services such as Netflix, an issue Tim and Gene discuss in the episode, the latest news is:

Change is coming: Netflix, Amazon, Apple get the jump on regulation

Next Episode

Innovation & digital public goods with Nicholas Gruen

In this episode, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny discusses innovation and digital public goods with his colleague Dr Nicholas Gruen, CEO of Lateral Economics. Nicholas is a well-known Australian economist, entrepreneur, and angel investor. Australia’s former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner once described Nicholas as “Australia’s foremost public intellectual.”

Many listeners will know of Nicholas’s work, through his published articles, reports and blog posts at Club Troppo and the Mandarin. He’s frequently quoted in national and international media, including the Financial Times.

It’s challenging to summarise Nicholas’s wide-ranging career. He’s worked as a ministerial adviser and as a member of the Productivity Commission, and he has chaired several boards, including those of the Australian Centre for Social Innovation, Innovation Australia, and, in its early days, the data science start up Kaggle, which was later acquired by Google. Nicholas certainly has the track record to be a credible authority on innovation.

Gene's wide ranging conversation with Nicholas includes discussion of: