Comments on: How should you measure your SMSF performance?

By: Christina

Christina — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:06:37 +0000

Sorry Steve, I don’t trade Forex so I cannot really confirm what you are asking. The basic rule is you cannot create a charge over your fund which rules out things like margin lending and short selling. Maybe others who know more about Forex can help.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:56:33 +0000

Hi Christina or anyone that can help

Maybe I’ve read the above incorrectly but could you please confirm this for me… Can my SMSF invest in Forex via a MetaTrader Platform and if so is their a % limit of how much can be invested in that way?

Thanks, Steve

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:49:52 +0000

Eetkamer,
Sorry I tooks so long to reply coz your comment went to the spam folder and I did not check it for a while. I use Wordpress for this blog and the look of a blog is determined by the theme you use. I use the Newpro theme which you can buy from Gabfire Themes. You can find a link to them at the bottom of this screen.

By: Christina

Christina — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:13:21 +0000

Hi Dean

“what about when the market returns 40%? Will you be happy with 10% returns then? ”
I would still be happy with 10% but happier if I could achieve more of course. If I really believe we are in for a bull market, I would happily allocate more to equities. If I am not convinced in the market rally like the one from Mar 2009 – Jan 2010, I am happy to allocate less to equities and perhaps miss out on better returns.

“Is an inflation plus 5% returns target high enough for a strategy that exposes itself to foreign currency and shorting stocks?”
I don’t think I am taking any more risk than someone who just invests in both Australian and international shares. I do not short stocks as this involves unlimited risk and an SMSF is not allowed to do that. I have allocated 10% of portfolio to inverse ETFs. The worst they can do is go to zero and this is no more risk than buying any stock.
Re foreign currency, I don’t do forex but as our SMSF already invests in the US market (I think of it as our allocation to international shares), I am comfortable with buying more USD especially if I expect it to go up against the AUD. Even if it doesn’t go up, I plan to use it to buy other USD denominated investments. As you now there are so many more investment options in the US markets and than Australian market. Other than USD, I don’t buy other foreign currency just to speculate on exchange rates.

Thanks for your comments and asking the good questions.

By: Dean

Dean — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:58:21 +0000

“We do not benchmark ourselves against any stock market indexes because if our benchmark index’s performance is -20% in a year, I am not going be happy if I achieve -15% for that year, ”

Hi Christina, but what about when the market returns 40%? Will you be happy with 10% returns then?

Is an inflation plus 5% returns target high enough for a strategy that exposes itself to foreign currency and shorting stocks?

Keep up the good posts, I find them interesting.

By: eetkamer meubilair

eetkamer meubilair — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:20:22 +0000

How did you make this template? I got a blog as well and my template looks kinda bad so people don’t stay on my blog very long :/.

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