The latest research conducted by The Curious Co reveals that Australians spend A$19.8 billion buying gifts each year and are joyfully generous: 85% of people get more joy giving gifts to others than receiving gifts themselves. The research, conducted for The Financial Planning Association of Australia in the lead-up to Financial Planning Week (19 August to 25 August, 2019), shows that Australian adults spend an average of $100 each month or $1,200 per year on gifts. The avera

We live in an experience society. No longer striving to meet our basic needs, we have become preoccupied with consumption in the form of experiences over goods or services. Four in five millennials would rather spend money on an experience than buy something. Even when we consume a good or service, we no longer expect to make a purchase and simply walk away. As consumers, we seek additional utility and want to know that our favourite brands are listening. Whether being deligh

We live in platform-based world where content can virtually be created by every individual who can access the internet. With 4 billion online voices and counting, who can we trust? The issue of trust and transparency in the news cycle is front of mind for many of us. The unravelling of our subconscious gullibility came to a head earlier this year as we watched with disbelief on the investigation into Cambridge Analytica, uncovered by Four Corners in the production, ‘Democracy

Financial stress, casualisation of the workforce, and digital disruption impacting how we spend our time I had a chat this afternoon with Nova’s FiveAA host, Alan Hickey, on how Australian workers spend their lunch breaks. A recent study by Quickbooks shows that 23% of Australians work through their lunch break every day. A further 10% never work through their meal break. Apparently the ‘land of the long weekend’ means that we work harder than ever throughout the week… or is

That our world is changing and shifting is not surprising – it’s the key definer of our times. On the one hand the centripetal force of change can push us towards constant innovation. We can be invigorated by the newness around us, so that our means of communication, the way we work and the spaces in which we engage are ever-evolving. On the other, the speed and scale of change can leave us feeling overwhelmed as we work out how to navigate and juggle complex personal and pro

Analysis on new research released this week by the OECD highlights the challenge for young people entering their working years, particularly in their transition from education. While unemployment in Australia at just 5.6% is one of the lowest in the developed world, the number of Australian young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) has increased by 100,000 since the time prior to the Global Financial Crisis (2008), rising from 10.5% to 11.8% of all those

I am often asked to deliver keynote presentations to educators, career advisors, and executives on the future job market. What jobs will remain, and which ones will soon no longer exist? What we know is that 44% of Australian jobs (5.1 million current jobs) are at risk from digital disruption in the next 20 years. At the same time, 75% of Australia’s fastest growing occupations require STEM Skills - Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Studies on employees in the UK ha

Generation Y are today’s 22 – 36 year olds, and make up 22% of the Australian population (5.22 million). They also make up the largest cohort in the workforce (34%). Gen Ys are comprised of today’s parents, senior leaders, influencers, and increasingly wealth accumulators. With 1 in 3 being university educated (compared to 1 in 5 Baby Boomers), they have grown up in shifting times and are digital in nature, global in outlook and are living in accelerated demographic times. It