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Here’s what you need to know today

• After losing a no-confidence motion in the Tasmanian Parliament, Premier Jeremy Rockliff is taking Tasmania to the polls for the second time in 16 months. These political delays are bad news for the AFL’s proposed 19th team, the Tassie Devils, with the Parliament divided on investing in a stadium upgrade and the AFL being clear “no stadium, no team”. (Nine News)
  
  

• The debate over the proposed Superannuation tax changes for balances over $3 million is heating up, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers suggesting “people have lied about it” after Shadow Treasurer Ted O'Brien called the proposal "an absolute disgrace" and said it would be "a disaster for the Australian economy". (ABC)
  
  

• OpenAI has grown paid users 50% in just three months! 3 million users now pay for a premium version of ChatGPT, still just a fraction of ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly active users. (Quartz)
  
  

• China has accused Australia of “brazenly” spreading a “false narrative” of China as a threat when Defence Minister Richard Marles met with US, Japanese and Philippine leaders at a conference in Singapore. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• President Trump posted that Chinese President Xi is “VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH”. This comes after both China and the US have accused the other of breaking their 90-day trade truce. (Truth Social)
  
  

• One company benefitting from China’s trade restrictions is Lynas Rare Earths, which saw shares rise 11% yesterday. China controls 90% of rare earth production, and as it limits exports, demand for non-Chinese rare earths has exploded. Lynas shares rose after European car makers acknowledged China’s restrictions were having an effect on their supply chains. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Globally, Tesla sales figures continue to slump. In May, year-on-year sales fell 45% in the UK, 68% in Portugal, 67% in France, 54% in Sweden, 31% in Denmark, 36% in the Netherlands and 19% in Spain. It’s not just Europe, Chinese sales fell 15% year-on-year in May. It wasn’t all bad news, sales were up 213% in Norway, but we’d bet the Tesla team are happy its a new month. (Quartz)
  
  

• Beauty retail giant Mecca reported revenue rose 25% to $1.2 billion for the year. Profit rose by 3% to $28 million. The company started with one store in Melbourne in 1997 and today has 110 stores across Australia and New Zealand. (AFR)
  
  

• Australian sports tech company Catapult Group has acquired Perch for US$18 million. Perch uses computer vision and AI to automatically tracks athletes’ strength training, delivering real-time feedback and saving time manually collecting data. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Packaged food giant Mondelez is suing Aldi in the US for “blatantly copying” its packaging. While this case is in the US, Aldi have come under similar criticism in Australia. Last year, Aldi was found liable for copyright infringement in Australian courts. (ABC)
  
  

• British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the situation in Gaza “appalling and intolerable” and condemned the blocking of humanitarian aid as he suggested the UK would consider further action against Israel. (BBC)
  
  

• America banned migrants from 12 countries, reminiscent of Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’ from his first term. The ban applies to people from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. (NY Times)
  
  

• After 5 rounds of negotiations between Iran and America over Iran’s nuclear program, the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the Trump administration “rude” and “thoughtless”. It seems negotiations are not progressing well. (Financial Times)

What the…?

Here’s some brain-rot for your Friday morning: Paramount is developing a ‘Skibidi Toilet’ movie. Now if you’re not deep down a YouTube or TikTok rabbit-hole that sentence may not make a lot of sense, but if you have school-aged children: ask them about it.

Skibidi toilet started in 2023 with an 11-second video of a cartoon head emerging from a toilet singing. It evolved into more than 70 1-5 minute episodes depicting an escalating war between toilets and cyborgs.

Now we promise there is a business angle here. This is one of Generation Alpha’s first cultural icons or memes to get turned into a film. But also shows that film studios are going beyond comic books and gaming and are now looking to social media for IP that will attract younger audiences. (Variety)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

Pay yourself first!

Community Question: When talking to clients, what do you suggest in terms of cash flow?

We put this question to Glen Hare, financial adviser and cofounder of Fox & Hare

One of the big ones is they're just saving whatever's left over. If you're saving whatever's left over, then that's going to give you absolutely no clarity as to when you're actually going to be able to achieve your goal.

If you're wanting a $1,000,000 place, and you need a 10% deposit then you need $100,000. If you know that you're saving $2,000 per month or $3,000 per month, it's going to be really clear as to when you're going to be able to get there.

If you're just saving whatever's left over or putting money in a savings account and then subsequently taking it back out, that's going to give you no clarity as to when you're actually going to get there.

So pay yourself first.

Interested in speaking to Glen or another of our hand-picked financial advisers? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll put you in touch for a free, no obligation initial chat.

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