Making Sense of Interest Rates, China and the Australian Sharemarket

The Reserve Bank today released the minutes of its Monetary Policy Meeting held on the 5th April. You may recall that the end result of that meeting was that rates were left alone, much to the relief of borrowers around Australia. The commentary was interesting, even if only for the suggestion that interest rates were … Read more

Mining taxes and straight-line projections

RBA Index of Commodity Prices

Much has been made over the last year on the relative merits of a “mining tax”, which has also been called a “super profits” tax. Very learned folk have invested a lot of time and energy into looking at Australia’s economy and trying to work out how to better spread around the benefits of the … Read more

How Do I Measure Risk?

What risks are you prepared to take

So, what risks ARE you prepared to take? Some people think it is fun to bungey-jump off a cliff or a bridge or a crane when they are travelling overseas, while others are not prepared to do this – whether it be from fear of heights, concern over the health effect on their eyes or … Read more

Managed Funds are a waste of time

Would someone please offer to donate $1 to me every time that i encounter something along the lines of “managed funds are a waste of time”? It could save me an awful lot of time and energy, and would very quickly fund my eventual retirement to a Tibetan monastery, where i would sit in bemused … Read more

Keep calm, and carry on

Tumultuous times. Is it the case that more catastrophes are happening or are we simply being made more aware of them? Food riots in Algeria, a stall-owner in Tunisia setting himself on fire and triggering a social revolution that is shifting power across the Middle East. Earthquakes wreak ruin and fear on China, New Zealand … Read more

Trader’s Update

Here is a Friday update from John on how he sees the very short term movements of the Australian Sharemarket currently. Please remember the great Disclaimer – none of this information is to be considered personal advice, and you MUST NOT take any action based on this post without first verifying that it is appropriate … Read more