Next time someone says they’re so confident of a fact that they’d bet “all the money in the whoooooole world”, you can tell them experts put the physical money figure at about US$6.113 trillion (that’s AU$9,464,899,538,210.00).

Last week, we found out that the annual rate of inflation fell to 2.1% in the year to June, which is the lowest annual inflation rate since March 2021.

It comes after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said it needed more evidence that inflation was stabilising before it would decide to cut rates further.

Before we go any further, let’s explain what inflation is.

Inflation is a rate that measures the change in the price of goods and services over time.

When inflation falls, it does not mean prices are falling — it means they are increasing at a slower rate than before.

The rate of inflation has been gradually trending down from a peak in December 2022, when it was at 6.8%. In an update last week, the ABS confirmed, “annual inflation to the June 2025 quarter of 2.1% down from 2.4% to the March quarter.”

“This is the lowest annual inflation rate since the March 2021 quarter,” the ABS said.

Just an FYI: Quarterly inflation figures are calculated based on the prices of a wider range of goods and services than the monthly figures, and are considered to be more representative.

So we’ve got those headline figures, but when looking at inflation data, many economists actually focus on something called the ‘trimmed mean’. This is a measure of inflation that excludes volatile prices, such as petrol, to better understand longer-term changes in prices.

For the latest data, the annual trimmed mean was 2.7%, down from 2.9% in March.

The trimmed mean is also what the RBA partly uses to inform its decision about the cash rate (which sets interest rates across the economy). 

The RBA‘s target range for the trimmed mean is 2-3%.

As we mentioned in last week’s newsletter, at the last cash rate meeting earlier this month, the RBA decided to keep the cash rate the same at 3.85%. It said it was waiting “for a little more information to confirm that inflation remains on track to reach 2.5%”.

With the trimmed mean now confirmed to be on a downward trajectory, some economists are predicting the RBA will announce a rate cut at its next meeting on 12 August. We’ll be sure to keep you updated!

Think buying a home is off the table? You’re not the only one

With rising living costs and a tough housing market, it’s no surprise so many young Aussies are feeling stuck.

That’s where ScaleApp comes in. It’s a free tool that helps you simulate your life plan, explore what’s possible, and map out a pathway to home ownership – whether it’s soon, someday, or still a maybe.

No jargon. No judgment. Just a bit of clarity in a system that often feels stacked against you.

Since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November last year, his planned tariffs have dominated headlines. 

This week, a long-awaited 1 August deadline arrived, meaning additional tariffs on dozens of countries came into effect.  

In this week’s newsletter, I’m taking it back a step to explain everything you need to know about tariffs. 

What exactly are they? How do they work? And most importantly, do they affect you?

A tariff is a tax governments apply on goods brought in from other countries. Think of it as an entrance fee that foreign products must pay to enter a country.

Here's an example:

Imagine you run a business producing t-shirts in Australia, and selling them to American stores. When those t-shirts arrive at American ports, the retailer buying your t-shirts would need to pay U.S. Customs a tariff before they can collect them. That tariff gets added to their costs, which they typically pass on to customers through higher prices.

You sell the t-shirt to the American business for $10. They pay a 10% tariff to U.S. Customs ($1). If they sell it for $20, their profit is $9. Without a tariff, it would be $10. 

Countries impose tariffs for three main reasons (as told via our t-shirt business):

Tariffs are almost entirely passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices (that $20 t-shirt will now be on the shelf for $21, so the fashion retailer keeps their $10 margin). 

Estimates from Yale University when the tariffs were announced suggested they could cost American households an average of $US3,800 annually. The estimates suggest rising prices will disproportionately impact low-income families.

Let's look at specific products, and the expected price rises for U.S. consumers:

Here's where it gets interesting for us in Australia. In April, President Trump imposed a 10% tariff on imports from all countries, including Australia. This was a big deal because Australia and the U.S. have had a free trade agreement since 2005, meaning most products could trade between our countries without tariffs.

In 2023, Australia exported about $33.6 billion worth of goods to the U.S. Now, all of these exports are subject to new costs. When the tariffs were announced, PM Anthony Albanese said the measures were “not the act of a friend” with “no basis in logic”. 

The current U.S. tariff rates affecting Australian exporters are:

The hot-button topic at the moment is a potential 200% tariff on pharmaceutical imports, giving companies producing medicines in Australia 12-18 months to move production to the U.S. Australia exports about $2 billion worth of medicine to the U.S. each year.

While you might not see immediate price changes at Australian shops, tariffs create ripple effects. Australia's prosperity depends significantly on open global trade. When that system faces threats, all Australians eventually feel the effects through slower growth, fewer job opportunities, and reduced investment.

Here are a few examples of how it may or may not affect you: 

The U.S. is a key trading partner for so many nations. Each country will feel the impact in its own way, depending on what dominates their trading relationship. The International Monetary Fund has projected global trade growth will halve from 3.8% to 1.7% in 2025 due to tariff escalation. That means slower economic growth worldwide, which eventually affects jobs, investment, and living standards everywhere.

The key thing to remember? Tariffs might sound like they only affect big businesses and exporters, but in our interconnected economy, trade barriers eventually touch everyone's lives. Understanding how they work helps you make sense of the economic headlines - and maybe even your next online shopping decision.

In the ultimate financial story of getting back up after you’ve been knocked down, design software Figma has debuted on the U.S. stock market, ending its first day of trading on Friday with a valuation of $US68 billion ($AU105 billion). 

Figma markets itself as a “collaborative interface design tool”. Think of it as the middle point between Canva and Squarespace, with a bit of Google Docs thrown in there as well. 

The stock market debut is even more remarkable considering that almost three years ago, a $19 billion deal where Adobe would acquire Figma fell through. (You don’t have to feel too bad — Adobe paid a $1 billion break-up fee). 

Figma co-founder Dylan Field’s stake is now valued at $6.3 billion.