In this video presentation, Managing Partner and SA Leaders 'Industry Expert' Andrew Creaser explores the concept of 'planning for success' with a broader goals-based approach to investment, risk and estate planning strategies.
Financial markets can be subject to periods of event-related volatility during which investor confidence can be significantly undermined. Here, we provide 10 key messages to help investors steer their portfolios through volatile times. 1. Volatility is a normal part of long-term investing From time to time, there is inevitably volatility in stock markets as investors react nervously to changes in the economic, political and corporate environment. Above all else, financial markets dislike uncertainty. Yet markets are also prone to [...]
When the math adds up, the numbers never lie. They're infallible, concrete, impossible to argue with -- however you want to spin it… It turns out that even innocent statistics can be twisted to support any nefarious thing you want to prove. The charts below show the exact same data, however the Y axis has been manipulated to downplay or emphasise weakness in the AUD since last year. Is it more dangerous to drive in NSW or the Northern [...]
There is a famous Indian parable that is taught in philosophy classes throughout the world to prevent absolutism and foster tolerance for the views of others. To paraphrase, six blind men are taken to “see” an elephant for the first time. One man feels the elephant’s tusk and declares that the elephant is like a spear, one man feels the elephant’s legs and declares that elephants are like trees, another man feels the trunk and declares the elephant is like a [...]
Investing can be profitable as well as fun, but it can also be unnerving and unprofitable if you don’t understand markets and don’t have the right mindset. The basics of successful investing are timeless and some experts have a knack of encapsulating these in a way that’s insightful. A year ago Shane Oliver wrote on 21 investment quotes he finds useful (see 21 great investment quotes), here are some more... The market and cycles “The stock market is the story of [...]
In 2008, professors at George Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania designed three questions in a study called The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence with which to examine the financial literacy of consumers around the globe. Let's just say the results weren’t all that encouraging. The study concluded that the cost of improving financial illiteracy is far less than the cost of the effects and consequences of financial illiteracy. The authors made several suggestions aimed at improving [...]
Albert Einstein is said to have called it the most powerful force in the universe, and John D Rockfeller named it the eighth wonder of the world. We call it compound interest. Why is it regarded so highly? Most of us studied compound interest at school, so we have a pretty good idea how it works. But it's not until you start looking at practical examples that you realise just how powerful it can be. Imagine you are 21 again. You [...]