SMSF Investment StrategiesSharing Simple Strategies for Self Managed Super Funds
Making the right choices can be hard
Last year I went through a period of reckless eating and the result was I put on 5 kilos. When I realised that I can no longer fit into my size 10 jeans, I had two choices – either buy new size 12 jeans or lose weight. The first choice seems like the easy choice [...]
Is the DOW in trouble?
Watching the stock market action in the past week for me has been more exciting than watching the Australian Open. The most “entertaining” market is none other than the venerable DOW (see chart above) which comprises of the 30 largest companies in the US. Just one day after making a new high, the index fell [...]
Winds of change are blowing
If you follow the market daily, you would have noticed a change of sentiment in the past few weeks. Up until recently, markets went up at every bit of good news and bad news was quickly discounted. In the last few weeks, the reverse is happening as good news get discounted and markets fall hard [...]
The tortoise and the hare
I saw this article “Non-profit super shows best returns” today which reported that between 2000 to 2009, funds operated by unions and employers on behalf of members posted the best annual returns. Retail funds – those run for profit by financial institutions – were nowhere to be seen on the league table, which ranked a [...]
Risk vs Reward
After the spectacular stock market rally of 2009, even the most bullish analyst is not expecting an encore of this performance in 2010. The more optimistic forecasts are for a 10-20% increase but the odds are higher for stocks to go sideways or down in 2010. There is still a lot of uncertainty if the [...]
2010 Bear Market Strategies
I was surprised when I found out that the top keyword search phrase for my blog this month was “2010 Bear Market Strategies”. Due to the lack of bearish articles on Australian sites, my little old blog appeared in the top 2 listings on the Google search results! For the few bears out there (according [...]
Get your fair share of commission rebates
I am sure no consumer likes to pay commissions for the financial products we buy. Unfortunately, the financial product providers have no choice but to pay commissions to provide incentives for financial advisers to recommend their product. Last weekend, we had drinks with one of Kingsley’s good friends who works for a fund management company [...]
Is it really different this time?
Recessions are nothing new. From the chart above, there has been 5 recessions (grey areas) in the last 30 years in the US. A recession is usually a few quarters of negative GDP growth. After some help from the government and the reserve bank in the form of incentives and interest rate cuts, the recession [...]
My outlook for 2010
I wish I can be a little bit more enthusiastic when I exchange “Happy New Year” wishes with family and friends. I just cannot do it because deep inside, I think there will be more pain to come in 2010 for investors. When I look at the events that have taken place in the past [...]
