As we seem to say every year... Where has the last 12 months gone?! It is December once again and we are only a few short weeks away from celebrating a new year. As is customary of the season, we have prepared our FinSec reflections; a look at some of the stories that have shaped our year in 2019. The year of the banks 2019 started with the banks in the headlines and looks set to end the same [...]
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 [...]
It is a story that has made news headlines the world over. A story about culture and greed impairing the judgement of people who should have known better. While both sides of politics have been very vocal in the wake of Hayne’s interim report, no one has touched the vexed question of how did we end up here? The impact on the victims has been devastating. The behaviour of the financial services community despicable and unforgivable. The viewing has been [...]
Reverberations will continue to be felt across the mahogany boardrooms and expansive top-floor executives suites of Australia’s admonished banking and financial services giants, as the royal commission claims more scalps while others jump the proverbial ship. The revelations exposed by the royal commission have been nothing short of appalling. As members of the profession – and as people who are proud to call themselves financial advisers – We find it jarring and disappointing that these are the circumstances in which the [...]
After an exceptionally strong year in markets, volatility has struck back in recent days. At the time of this writing, the S&P 500® Index has fallen roughly 10% from its record close on Jan 26.1 The Australian equity market has seen falls of smaller magnitude, given it did not participate to the upside through most of 2017 and January of this year. Nevertheless, the age-old adage of the US sneezing remains, and sustained volatility in the US is likely to weigh on our [...]
Three years ago Bitcoin was $250AUD. With a 10,000% increase in price since then, it is starting to generate significant buzz with the everyday investor, as is the underlying technology driving it, “blockchain”. But what are digital currencies and should you be investing in them? We asked renowned technologist and futurist, Mark Pesce to take us on the bitcoin / blockchain journey. “Never invest in a business you don’t understand.” A simple bit of advice from the Sage of Omaha, Warren [...]
In a matter of days, Santa will be putting the finishing touches on his “Naughty” and “Nice” lists and it remains unclear on which side of the ledger the banks will sit. It’s an understatement, of course, to suggest the big four (CBA, Westpac, ANZ and NAB) won’t be expecting an outpouring of festive cheer and goodwill from their 17+ million customers this year. Despite holding around 2.5 trillion of our money, collectively – (and 80% of the nation’s loans) - [...]
A mate recently cancelled his gym membership at a popular city health club, citing lack of motivation, high monthly fees and a general malaise about “just not getting results’’. Out of interest, I asked him what his training regime looked like. A brisk walk on the treadmill, he confessed, followed by a quick sauna and an obligatory large iced-coffee (with cream and ice-cream) in the club lounge afterwards. Those stubborn kilos are still hanging on for dear life. Comparisons can be [...]
Legend has it that Joe Kennedy, father of former President John F Kennedy, avoided the stock market crash of 1929 by selling his entire portfolio just days before prices collapsed. He did this, the story goes, after receiving a share tip from a shoeshine boy. When taxi drivers, lift attendants and young lads on the sidewalk are speculating in stocks, he concluded, “the market is too popular for its own good”. The stock market is riding high today but I’d be [...]
Last years Federal Budget included a number of significant changes to means testing for the Centrelink age pension, these changes came into effect 1 January 2017. Over the last couple of months Centrelink began communicating with those that will be affected. As a consequence of this communication we have had a number of clients report that their asset numbers seem to be inflated, which if left uncorrected will result in a lower pension entitlement under the new rules. Should this [...]