Business
Time for a review of financial position
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 | Business, Economy, Investment | No Comments
The lull after Christmas and New Year always seems to be an fitting time to review an investment portfolio, and with the rollercoaster we have witnessed in global and Australian financial markets over the past 18 months a review may be even more overdue. It’s worth periodically looking at asset allocation – both to asset classes and within asset classes – which may have deviated from your initial plan with the volatility. It may be an appropriate time to question whether your financial adviser adding sufficient value to justify the fees you are paying. Though the collective weight of the recommendations of the Ripoll, Cooper and Henry Reviews may bring about the removal of adviser commissions in the longer term, the volume of information available on the internet already makes it easier for investors to do their own research and manage their own portfolio if they wish to do so. More broadly, with bank interest rates rising quicker than official RBA cash rates a comparison of the home loan products and rates available to determine whether a current home loan is still the most suitable may also prove to be warranted. To Business Dust readers: all the best for 2010!
Since we last spoke
Thursday, November 26th, 2009 | Business, Economy | 1 Comment
How quickly the world changes; at least here anyway. The sharemarket has bounced back, the big four banks have increased their market share and interest rates are going back up. Property exuberance is back in all Australian capital cities, employment figures are better than expected, and the IPOs are returning – a sure sign of recovery. And how quickly we forget. China and mining, mining and China – the saving grace. Technically Australia never entered a recession, which is amazing given the rest of the world including the UK, Europe and the US. It seems we have disentangled from the US, at least somewhat, in a further indication that in fulfillment of the popular prediction China has emerged as the next emerging super power. (Yes, the use of emerged and emerging in one sentence was intended.) The collapses – including but not limited to ABC Learning, Babcock & Brown, Storm Financial and Great Southern – which left so many investors with so much less money than they used to have are already a memory to everyone other than those who lost money. The Ripoll Inquiry is in, now waiting on the Henry Review and the Cooper Review. The next post on businessdust – financial advice and financial advisers.
The End of Financial Year
Thursday, June 18th, 2009 | Business, Economy, Investment | 1 Comment
The all important End of Financial Year – in capitals – is a little under two weeks away, but working in financial industry you could be forgiven for forgetting this. Sure, the predicable structured investments from the usual suspects are once again available (it must be surprising to anyone in the industry that these brands are remain brands worth promoting, but pleasantly so for anyone selling, and let’s face it, few are more than salesmen). Cynical? But I’m going to conveniently steer away from the [meaningless] adviser remuneration debate that is currently raging in Australia, at least until my next post or when I next can’t think of anything else to post about. So, back to the eerily quiet end of financial year – maybe investors are still wary of the fluctuating sharemarket, or are understandably turned off by the naïve meddling of the Rudd Government. Adverse changes inevitably affect confidence in superannuation, especially given it is a long term nature and repeated government changes. The word counterproductive comes to mind – have we forgotten that an aging population makes saving for retirement essential on the agenda? The other staple end of financial year recommendation for advisers (for which, incidentally, I am not one) – margin lending – is undeniably a bad word. Either way, for an observer in the financial industry, it’s dull.