It was the worst-kept secret in the money universe - and sure enough, the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted interest rates yesterday for the first time since 2023.

I always find interest rate movements pop into my brain when I’m asked for an example of an idea that news organisations just assume that you know. So when the news dropped at 2:30pm yesterday, you can bet the TDA Finance team was on that explainer faster than an email on your birthday from a burger joint you went to once in 2017. I hope you like it! (The explainer, not the complimentary fries upsize).

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has increased the cash rate from 3.60% to 3.85%.

The change comes after higher-than-expected inflation data. Figures released last week showed prices increased by 3.8% between December 2024 and December 2025.

While inflation “has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022,” the RBA said it expects inflation to remain above its 2-3% target range “for some time.”

The RBA is the first major central bank to return to interest rate rises following the post-COVID inflation spike.

The cash rate is what the RBA charges banks for short-term loans.

We usually refer to changes in the cash rate as the RBA changing interest rates, because the cash rate affects interest rates across the economy, including home loans.

The higher the interest rate, the more expensive it is to borrow money.

On Tuesday, the RBA Board voted unanimously to raise the cash rate to 3.85%. It said this was due to increased inflation.

The RBA partly bases its decisions on underlying inflation, which measures the rate of price growth after removing extremes on either side (such as a sudden fall in energy prices).

The RBA’s target range for underlying inflation is 2-3%. The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows underlying inflation is at 3.3%.

The RBA’s last interest rate cute was in August.

In a statement following today’s decision, the RBA said the outlook “for domestic economic activity and inflation” was uncertain.

It also acknowledged global economic uncertainty, but said Australia had seemed to benefit, with “recent growth” from the countries we trade with the most.

The next interest rate decision will be handed down on 17 March.

The United Nations (UN) is at risk of “imminent financial collapse,” the organisation’s Secretary-General has warned.

António Guterres said the global agency could run out of money as early as July. 

It comes after the Trump Administration moved to cut funding for some UN agencies.

Here’s what to know.

Guterres wrote to all 193 UN member states this week in a letter seen by global news agency Reuters. The letter said the global body was facing a financial crisis due to unpaid fees by member states. 

UN members are required to make mandatory payments, an obligation Guterres said the “integrity of the entire system” depends on.

While no country was singled out, the letter follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull funding from several UN agencies. Historically, the U.S. has been the UN’s largest funder. 

A White House memo dated 7 January ordered government departments to “cease participating in and funding… 31 UN entities that operate contrary to U.S. national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty.” Other countries, including the UK and Germany have also recently reduced foreign aid commitments. 

Guterres has long warned of the agency’s worsening finances, but said it had now reached a crisis point. 

The UN is funded by its 193 member states, with contributions varying depending on the size of their economies. 

In 2025, the U.S. contributed roughly 22% of the international organisation’s nearly $US4 billion annual budget, followed by China at 20%.

In December, the U.S. pledged $US2 billion in humanitarian funding to the UN, down from $17 billion in 2022. At the time, White House officials warned the agency needed to “adapt or die”.

In January 2025, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organisation, the UN’s public health agency. The following month, the U.S. withdrew from the UN’s Human Rights Council.

Now, the Trump administration has added dozens more UN agencies to this list, following a review of “all international intergovernmental organisations… that the United States funds or supports.” 

A report by The Associated Press estimates the U.S. owes $4.4 billion in missed payments relating to the UN’s regular budget and its various peacekeeping missions.

In his letter, Guterres raised concerns about a budgetary rule where the UN must re-pay member states any money it was allocated to receive from them if it did not spend it, even if they did not receive the money. 

It works like this: 

Country A is meant to give the UN $10 million, which the organisation plans to spend on health clinics in developing countries. Country A does not send this money, which means the UN does not spend it on the clinics. The money was allocated, however, and because it was not spent - even though that was because it didn’t arrive - the UN now owes Country A $10 million. 

“We cannot execute budgets with uncollected funds, nor return funds we never received… as part of the 2026 assessment, we were compelled to return $227 million ($AU165 million) – funds we have not collected,” Guterres said. 

Guterres warned that without drastic change, the UN would run out of money by July. 

UN80 was created last year to improve efficiency. The reform agency has since cut the UN’s 2026 budget by 7% to $US3.45 billion.

The UN Secretary-General said the financial crisis is “threatening programme delivery”. 

As a result of budget constraints, UN family clinics have been closed and food rations cut to highly vulnerable communities around the world.

There’s no one-size-fits-all number - it depends on your income, savings, debts and goals. The good news? You don’t need a huge lump sum to get started.

Investing smaller amounts regularly, a strategy known as dollar cost averaging, can help spread risk by buying into the market at different price points over time, smoothing out the ups and downs.

Before jumping in, think about fees, spreading your money across different investments, and whether your day-to-day finances are sorted first.

Listen to Episode Six in Season 1 of the CommSec Invest podcast to learn more.

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Have you ever been sent an awkward message that you weren’t meant to see?

That’s what happened to around 16,000 Amazon workers last week, who learned their jobs were being replaced by AI via an internal email.

The senior executive who accidentally sent the message thought staff had already been informed of the layoffs…