Money, power, bias – and truth. The Global Financial Crisis (now simply designated ‘the GFC’) brought all of these priorities, and the conflicts they cause, into stark view. A new movie “The Inside Job” successfully highlights the interplay of vested interests, hidden compensation and regulatory policy stupidity that suggests not only that the eventual crisis…
Here is our first Traders’ Update for 2011. As has been the case since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis, the world of investment is dominated by activities of speculators and traders. That is, investors and institutions looking to buy and sell a range of securities over the short term to speculate on price movements rather than…
Gold, like diamonds, holds a fascination much greater than its simple financial value. It is malleable, resistant to tarnishing, highly conductive and a fantastic metal to work with (in a previous life i completed a jewellery making course and came to appreciate just how easy gold is as a medium). In some countries, the open…
It’s interesting to read notes and articles and research that shows Australia’s pensioners “sitting on a time bomb” or that there is a shortfall in retirement savings of hundreds of billions of dollars. For what it is worth, the bulk of these appear to be a beat-up. For the morosely disinterested or even the remotely…
The RBA has increased interest rates by another 0.25%. Most people won’t notice for a while, as they are still busy enjoying Melbourne Cup luncheons and the like. It is an interesting move, this one. Obviously, any move of rates is a keenly watched event – much like the 150 year old horse race –…
Todays’ Australian Financial Review includes an article “Disclosure statements found wanting” (page 56 Financial Services, AFR Friday 29th October 2010). Now there is a non sequitur if ever i’ve seen one! That statement assumes that there would be a time when superannuation statements would NOT be found wanting – and i really can’t see that…
Back in the depths of the Global Financial Crisis (the “GFC”…) investors in the United States were paying money for the right to hold Treasury Notes. In other words, the notes showed a negative return. How is that for strange? Why would you put your capital into cash when you know it is going to…
Just what constitutes “personal financial advice”? We here in Wealth & Security Planners have noticed a marked increase in the number of people who are looking at various forms of money market news as “advice”. It is a development that has both good and bad aspects to it. This post is a quick look at…
Financial planners are fond of using the phrase “long term” when talking about investing. It is a concept based upon an awful lot of research and analysis of markets, investor behaviour and trends. However, the phrase quite rightly gets questioned every time there is a significant fall in markets. A lot of people worry about…
Take a deep breath… we are about to enter the secret world of financial risk and return measurement… . How long is long term? How do you balance risk and return? These would be two of the shortest questions to ask yourself, yet they are also two of the hardest questions to answer. It does…
