SMSF Investment StrategiesSharing Simple Strategies for Self Managed Super Funds
End of the road draws nigh for Greece
On May 10, 2010, the IMF/EU announced their “shock and awe” €750bn bailout package for Greece and other troubled European countries. This bailout was equivalent to allowing Greece to do a credit card “balance transfer” to a lender who was prepared to give them a special rate on existing debt. It did not solve Greece’s [...]
My favourite information sources – Part 3
Investors need to keep up with the financial news which may affect their investments. With the internet, it is now very easy to get breaking news, literally seconds after it happens on the many free finance news portals. My favourite international news portal would be Bloomberg. I normally check the Bloomberg headlines and key US [...]
My favourite information sources – Part 1
I remember first hearing about the US subprime crisis around July 2007, three years ago. At that time we had no idea of its implications – was it a small problem that would be quickly resolved or the beginning of something much bigger? As new SMSF trustees, I remember feeling very fearful about what the [...]
All Ords at 4500 again – where to from here?
The Australian All Ords is testing 4500 again. The last time it touched this level was in February 2010 and the consensus by stock experts was “Hold your nerve, its time to jump in“. That article quoted market heavyweights like CommSec chief economist Craig James, AMP Capital Investors head of investment strategy Shane Oliver and [...]
Too interconnected to fail
The above is a beautiful graphic from The New York Times article Europe’s Web of Debt which demonstrates the European debt crisis very succinctly. As you can see European debt is highly interconnected. If one country defaults, many others in the European Union will be affected. The size of the circles and the width of [...]
Contagion has begun
Back in February 2010 when I wrote my first blog post about the Greek debt crisis, Australian financial advisers were assuring everyone that this crisis is self-contained and unlikely to spread through the global financial system. When the Greek crisis started, everyone assumed that Greece would get bailed out and that would be end of [...]
Slow motion train wreck picks up speed
The Greek debt crisis has been compared with a “slow motion train wreck”. Everyone can see that the fiscal spending in Greece is unsustainable and a fatal crash will result if action is not taken soon. You don’t need to be a financial expert to know that if you constantly spend more than you earn, [...]
Turning point reached in market rally
I was planning to write a blog post last Friday to point out that both the DOW and S&P 500 have almost reached the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level as shown the chart of the S&P500 above. Technical analysts believe that the Fibonacci retracement levels are potential turning points in markets as mentioned in my earlier [...]
Should Australian investors worry about the European debt crisis?
Apparently not, if you read the local financial news. While the problems with Greece continue to dominate the headlines on international news portals, our headlines are focused on Australian company earnings. Yesterday the stock market celebrated our low unemployment rate and Rio Tinto’s great earnings report. After the Australian market had a 9% correction which [...]
