Here at Michael's Musings, a Perth planner will help you sort out the real information in amongst all that noise. Feedback and comment cheerfully received, even if sometimes ignored. To log-in using your Facebook, LinkedIn or other network ID, please click this image.
“Risk on, risk off” is a phrase used to denote the massive trading shifts taking place at institutional levels in the post-GFC (“global financial crisis”) world. The phrase encapsulates the skittish approach investors have taken to the day-to-day news and data feeds that are highlighted on the evening finance news segment. The question for...
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Self Managed Superannuation Funds (“SMSF’s”) have long lived under a very harsh penalty regime. If a trustee failed to meet their obligations then the Australian Tax Office (ATO) was able or even required to declare the fund “non-complying”. That was a nuclear bomb option as it resulted in the fund assets being taxed at...
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Is the market ‘high’ or is it ‘low’? Is it ‘time to re-enter the market’ or should you be buying cans of baked beans, a shovel and a gun? This site sticks with the Great Disclaimer – nothing here can be considered personal advice, so the title is more correctly referred to as a...
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Is the world riskier? Here is a question received from a client recently. My second question is, I remember a time when things ticked along with the ASX rather smoothly, whilst I appreciate the recent volatility is something that we are not used to, I still don’t get the way the market moves at...
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Which is the best super fund, and how will you decide between the thousands of options on offer?
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For most Australians, there isn’t even a question in this statement. Retate the question as “when to buy a home”, and you’re probably closer to the mark. Maybe even “how to buy a home”. It is borderline heresay to phrase it as “don’t buy a home if…”. If you don’t want to read my...
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Some would argue that the sharemarket makes no sense in the long term either but that is an argument easily dismissed through 4 or 5 years of intensive discussion, research, correspondence, argument and analysis. So for the moment, let’s just say that it does make sense in the long term but there is room...
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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...
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Gold, like diamonds, holds a fascination much greater than its simple financial value. It is malleable, resistant to tarnishing, highly conductive and a fantastic metal to work with (in a previous life i completed a jewellery making course and came to appreciate just how easy gold is as a medium). In some countries, the...
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Take a deep breath… we are about to enter the secret world of financial risk and return measurement… . How long is long term? How do you balance risk and return? These would be two of the shortest questions to ask yourself, yet they are also two of the hardest questions to answer. It...
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