Assets

Understanding different types of retirement pensions

Understanding different types of retirement pensions

Currently, to be eligible for a full or part Age Pension, you must satisfy an income test and an assets test, as well as other requirements.

SMSFs and your retirement horizon

SMSFs and your retirement horizon

Here we look at what to consider when deciding on the right mix of investments for your SMSF as you countdown the years to retirement.

Is it better to buy an investment property or home first?

Is it better to buy an investment property or home first?

Its worth knowing some more about both options to ensure you’re making a well informed decision.

How to stay focussed in volatile markets

How to stay focussed in volatile markets

So the market just fell. You’re reading headlines claiming billions of dollars of value have been wiped off the stock market in a matter of hours, days. You check into your account and see that your investments have also been affected. What will you do?

Property market chart pack July 2018 -CoreLogic

Property market chart pack July 2018 -CoreLogic

Sydney dwelling values have fallen by -0.9% over the second quarter of 2018 and they are -4.5% lower over the past year. Dwelling values across Sydney are now -4.8% lower than their July 2017 peak.

Tax Differences: Property vs Shares

Tax Differences: Property vs Shares

This prompted me to think about the relative pros and cons of property and share investment in terms of tax.

Asset Allocation & Market Pull Back

Asset Allocation & Market Pull Back

“The probability of loss in all Australian Equities is 28% with a frequency of negative returns (years) 3.6 ”

“In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighting machine”

2017 Long-term Investing Report

2017 Long-term Investing Report

1. Rear-view mirror investing
Making investment decisions based on past performance is a high-risk strategy at the best of times, and we never recommend it.

2. Lack of portfolio diversification

As this Report shows, all asset classes are vulnerable to the vagaries of the market. Having a narrowly
focused portfolio by putting all your eggs in one or two asset classes exposes investors to a lot of
unnecessary downside risk.

3. Reliance on residential property

The only way to avoid the considerable downside risk of single-asset investing is true diversification across asset types.

4. Investing in over-priced traditional assets

The potential benefits of greater diversification and active management become all the more meaningful the lower the expected market returns.

5. Setting and forgetting

Instead of a ‘set and forget’ approach which relies on a steady-state, unchanging market environment,
investors faced with volatile markets will require a nimble approach, shifting between asset classes and sub-asset classes in real time as market conditions change.