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The latest from Money Career on Lifestyle Desires.

A mother and daughter sharing a quiet conversation at the kitchen table

What teaching a daughter to get rich really sounds like

Jannese Torres is building a million-dollar portfolio for her daughter — and rewriting the family script about who gets to have the grown-up money conversations.

Ben Russo7 min read

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A thoughtful businessman in a suit working on his laptop in a modern office setting.
Money Career

What I’d do if AI came for my career at 45

AI career anxiety is getting real for mid-career Australians. If I were 45 with $300,000 saved, I'd build runway, skills and options now.

Ben Russo
Tax documents and coins on a green desk symbolizing financial planning and savings
Money Career

The budget just rewrote the super rulebook. Three changes I'd actually pay attention to

Three changes in Tuesday's budget don't just tweak the superannuation system. They shift the incentives hard enough to reshape your retirement balance — and none of them landed on the front pages.

Ben Russo
Aerial view of suburban rooftops in Collaroy, NSW, with colourful tiled roofs and pockets of green
Money Career

What Birthright gets right about my parents' house

Zoe Pepper's black comedy lands in cinemas nine days after the federal budget tries to fix the same problem.

Ben Russo
Suburban Australian house facade in Geelong with manicured front garden and tiled roof
Money Career

Negative gearing reform meets the housing problem it can't solve alone

Treasury is modelling a two-property cap on negative gearing and a CGT discount cut for budget night, and Jim Chalmers has stopped pretending the status quo is acceptable. The reform is real, the housing-affordability problem is bigger than the reform, and that's the part nobody is saying out loud.

Ben Russo
Woman in apron washing a chopping board at a bright kitchen sink
Money Career

Mother's Day, $130,000, and the rule no one's fixing

A Melbourne nanny has worked full-time hours for two decades on a quarter of the super she should have. The rule behind that is the same one behind the wider motherhood penalty, and it isn't being fixed in time for next Mother's Day.

Ben Russo
Aerial view of Perth's CBD towers and surrounding suburban rooflines under clear sky
Money Career

Perth's stamp duty fix: a $100,000 lift into a $900,000 market

WA's 2026-27 budget lifted the first home buyer stamp duty exemption to $600,000, a $100,000 jump worth up to $25,390 to the right buyer. In a market where Perth's median house already sits at $900,000, the question is who that right buyer actually is.

Ben Russo
Modern high-rise buildings in Melbourne's skyline viewed from an apartment window
Community

Rental cooperatives: the housing fix hiding in plain sight

A new rental cooperative in Brunswick is offering something the private market can't: income-capped rent, long-term leases, and neighbours who know each other's names. In Norway, 40 per cent of housing stock works this way. In Australia, it's less than one per cent. I went to find out why.

Ngaire Brennan
Australian dollar notes on a wooden surface
Money Career

Two Hundred Dollars and a Long Press Conference: Reading Budget 2026

Treasury rang Friday and led with the punchline. The body of the briefing was the $200 offset. The thing under the briefing was a quiet acknowledgment it isn't moving the needle. What Albanese is and isn't announcing on Tuesday.

Ben Russo