Are you comfortable with borrowing to invest through your SMSF?   Since superannuation law was amended almost four years ago to allow SMSF gearing under strict conditions, many fund trustees have shown a reluctance to borrow to finance investments.   Interestingly, the March quarter Multiport...

Many investors are not very good at learning lessons. This is shown time and time again such as when investors fail to adequately diversify their portfolios even after losing badly on a single stock. This week’s Budget gives super fund members a one-off chance to learn their lesson...

Melbourne’s home prices have risen higher than the other capitals since 2005;Melbourne’s housing market is the most overvalued in the country and ripe for a correction. This view was based on a number of observations, including:   1. Melbourne’s Median Multiple (median house price divided...

The 21st century will be the century of old age, where declining birth rates meet longer life expectancies. This ageing of the population will affect many areas of the international economy, from consumption and growth to asset valuations. The impacts from ageing will likely be most acute in...

U.S Debt Levels Remain a Concern   China’s Growth Trajectory & Implications for the United States China’s Grand Strategy for the Future   Japanese Quake Aftermath for the Global Economy   Learnings from the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund

China’s Growth Trajectory & Implications for the United States U.S Debt Levels Remain a Concern China’s Grand Strategy for the Future Japanese Quake Aftermath for the Global Economy Learnings from the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment Market Review – Quarter 2, 2011

Topics to read include:   China’s Growth Trajectory & Implications for the United States U.S Debt Levels Remain a Concern   China’s Grand Strategy for the Future   Japanese Quake Aftermath for the Global Economy   Learnings from...

Executive Summary: China’s Growth Trajectory & Implications for the United States U.S Debt Levels Remain a Concern China’s Grand Strategy for the Future Japanese Quake Aftermath for the Global Economy Learnings from the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth...

Executive Summary 2010 was characterised by a solid rebound in global economic activity (+4.7%), although In the long run, house prices and rents can’t stray too far from people’s income. Read the full report at:...

  Here are some tips for implementing good business practice for invoicing that will improve the likelihood of not only getting paid but receiving payments on time.   Set a sales limit for each customer and stick to it. This way you will limit the risk of non...

  The past few years has put an extra bright spotlight on the performance of superannuation funds.  It is no surprise that many Australians are turning to Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF) as a solution to what they perceive to be the poor performance of superannuation.  In this...

When it comes to...

Many articles and discussions about SMSFs concentrate on the high numbers that are established most months in this still booming $400 billion-plus sector.   However almost nothing is said about the relatively small number of SMSFs that are wound-up each year.   For instance, ATO...

Returns are what it is all about as an investor.   And as we mark the end of another financial year the job of filing another year’s tax return gets added to the to-do list.   Ruling the books off on another tax year is...

1. Business owners do not focus on sales. There are so many passionate business owners out in the market which I love to see, they are great hair dressers, computer technicians, coaches, accountants, mechanics etc and they are all very good at doing their job or their “core...

Remember the carefree days of 2007, before the GFC hit? Back then, all that investors had to worry about was the risk of companies going bust. Then the GFC came along, and we learned that we had to worry about banks going bust.   Now it’s countries....

Running with the herd feels a lot safer than running against it.   There is a sense of psychological security that comes from doing what others are doing – and when it came to our early human ancestors forming tribes and deciding to flee rather than fight...

Entrepreneurs and their employees will see a bit more in their pay packets this week as the third tranche of the Rudd Government's tax cuts kick in from July 1.   Under the new tax rates that come into effect from tomorrow, the 30% tax threshold will...

Investors frequently seek external validation to ease the anxiety of putting their money at risk. Problem is there is no guarantee that a "five-star" rating on a chosen fund will lead to a "five-star" investment experience.   It is human nature for consumers to seek comfort in...

As the list of ways to promote your business grows, working out the most effective way to spruik your business can be half the battle. That's why it's vital that small- and medium-sized businesses put a solid marketing strategy in place and make sure they don't deviate from the...

It's official – consumers have gone frugal.   Just hours after new data showed consumer sentiment has slumped, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens said in a speech yesterday that the bank has seen "certain caution in [consumer] behaviour" in recent months, and raised the question whether the shift...

Before scheduling a meeting, ask: Is there a business case for this meeting? Does it make sense? Is it a waste of time? Circulate the meeting agenda. That includes preparation reading with a good lead time. Allocate roles and responsibilities. Who is going to keep time?...

Recent interaction between JDFA and the ATO supports anecdotal evidence now appear in the popular media: the ATO is definitely taking a more aggressive approach to debt collection.   During the global financial crisis, the ATO softened its approach and gave some leniency to small businesses; in...

Investors who pay close attention to daily media headlines about the financial markets could be excused for thinking the world is coming to an end. But there's a flipside to this story.   To be sure, current concerns about sovereign debt and the damage to public sector...

The property market continues to cool as both volumes and clearance rates decline, with some potential price falls on the horizon as would-be buyers back off due to higher interest rates, experts say.   Much of the cooling has occurred in high-end markets, with these experts saying...

What's the secret to being a great boss? What are the best ways to motivate staff? How do you turn your business into an ideas factory? In the old days, it was all about providing employees with perks and rewarding the most talented with generous pay packets. Companies would...

If your answer is, 'There's no way we can get blood out of a stone to invest more in our business', then upgrading your IT equipment is simply not an option for you right now. My recommendation is to wait until your business moves in one direction or another,...

As predicted, the Reserve Bank met today and decided to leave the cash rate on hold at 4.5 per cent. This comes as no surprise to the overwhelming majority of economists, and after six increases since October 2009; it's also a welcome relief to homeowners, who can now breath...

Anyone who still believes that you can make money consistently by forecasting market movements might want to interview clients of US investment bank Goldman Sachs.   According to Bloomberg, seven of Goldman's nine recommended top trades for 2010 had been losers for clients as of mid-May. These...

From 1 July 2010, small businesses with less than 20 employees will be able to access the Australian Government's free superannuation clearing house service.   This service is optional and is designed to reduce red tape and compliance costs for small businesses when meeting their superannuation guarantee...

It is staggering how so many people get caught by overseas investment cons which begin simply with an unsolicited phone call or email.   The dollars lost in this way are breathtaking. Australians have lost at least $400 million in this way, estimates the Australian Securities and...

Extracted from an article by Leon Gettler, most entrepreneurs have a simple problem when it comes to business plans: they don't have one.   Up to a certain point, I agree with this article, but then it looses its way! For small businesses, the owners do not...

Debt can be very much a matter of age. The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) at the University of Canberra recently published a report, Saving Tomorrow, which shows how the type of debt and the degree of indebtedness tends to vary...

It makes much sense to regularly check your super fund’s balance and recent transactions.   This is not to make you more focused on the extreme market volatility in recent weeks but to check that you have not become a victim of the latest bout...

This is one of the questions that the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) at the University of Canberra set out to answer in its recently released report Saving Tomorrow.   Some of its answers are likely to surprise you. And the answers...

A recent media article hyped resource stocks, just a day before the Australian government slapped a big new tax on mining. Chalk it up as another reason not to stake your investment strategy on a single sector.   The illustration in The Australian Financial Review

Fuelling this decision which sees the cash rate increase to 4.50% is concern over rising inflation and surges in property prices. The property market is looking extremely buoyant with growth being evidenced as a direct result of the government stimulus via the first home buyers boost...

For financial planning clients of JDFA, this week's announcement of the banning of commissions and a statutory duty to act in the best interests of their clients is a non issue! JDFA has applied these principles since Jennifer and Daryl commenced the business in 2007.   For clients...

Employers can require employees to provide medical certificates for sick leave absences which explain more than just that the employee has a "medical condition".   Many employers would have had the experience of employees presenting medical certificates to cover absences from work which have little or...

If you concentrated on everything that could go wrong with an acquisition, you probably would avoid that path to growth and stick to developing organically. However, this would exclude you from achieving significant step increase in capability and capacity, as well as possibly resolving some underlying weaknesses in the...

Here are some strategies to assess the health of your business beyond the balance sheet: Continually test, test, test your products and services Bruce Keebaugh, founder of catering group The Big Group likes to put every aspect of his business under scrutiny every...

Long-time watchers of financial markets know that investors are always worrying about one thing or another. What's not often apparent is how quickly those worries are built into prices and how rapidly the narrative changes.   The recent fretting points for investors have included, among...

Inertia, of course, can be an investor’s enemy. For instance, sheer inertia can prevent a would-be investor from even getting started on the path to saving for a retirement. But sometimes, just sometimes, inertia can work in an investor’s favour, as highlighted in a new Vanguard...

Many married couples who are the only members of their self-managed super funds probably do not think too much about the possible consequences for the funds if their marriages fail. Yet the possibility of marriage breakdown among members would be a crucial issue for numerous funds...

Is there a business case for this meeting? Does it make sense? Is it a waste of time? Circulate the meeting agenda. That includes preparation reading with a good lead time. Allocate roles and responsibilities. Who is going to keep time? Take minutes? Keep things on...

As widely predicted the Reserve Bank met today and increased the cash rate by 0.25%. This takes the cash rate to 4.25% and is the fifth increase in the last six RBA meetings.   Despite a softening in economic growth in the last quarter the RBA sees...

The Australian economy might have sailed through the recession relatively unscathed, but don't think that customers haven't been changed by the GFC.   That's the message from international marketing guru Paul Bennett, the managing partner of global design consultancy IDEO, which organisations including Nokia, Intel, Bank...

Executive Summary    - Early in 2010, the anxiety about excessive debt levels spread from banks to numerous governments, including a number that bailed out their banks.     - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that general government gross debt in advanced countries will...

I don't feel old, and on a good day, don't look too old. But when I read the following article by Robert Keavney, Money Management, 25 March 2010, I realised that my experience in the early 1990's had been remembered in the noughties: unlisted property trusts are liquidity traps...

The Australian housing market has been heating up again. But can it continue? The outlook for house prices is very important for Australians and the Australian economy. Housing is the biggest investment most families undertake, poor affordability has significant social consequences and the unwinding of high house prices in...

One of the well-known problems of merging activities of a newly acquired firm into those of the buyer is cultural mismatch. It is not just that there might be different ways of conducting operations but that the unwritten rules on which decisions are made may be based on a...

Eighteen months ago, markets were fretting about the huge debts carried by major banking institutions. Now the worry is over the debts carried by the governments who bailed the banks out. So what's an investor to do? This crisis-driven transfer of large private sector debt obligations...

The powerful rebound in the sharemarket from the depths of the GFC provides a compelling lesson about the high cost of market timing. Market timing – that is, trying to pick the best times to buy or sell shares – only succeeds on a few rare...

Closing the deal can be the hardest part of the entire sales process. Here are some tips to make sure you get the sale over the line: Understand the customer's needs and budget A lot of sales folk try and sell a product...

Are you in danger of exceeding at least one of the annual caps on super contributions? Some fund members are particularly vulnerable given that the Government has halved the cap on concessional contributions from the 2009-10.   The heightened risk...

To be successful in business, there is a need to plan. Business plans, Marketing plans, IT plans.......   Here we discuss Business Succession and Business Continuity plans.   Succession: “following one another in order...uninterrupted transmission of authority”   Continuity: “continuous...going on without stopping”...

Residential housing prices have risen dramatically during 2009 by between 14.25% (Residex) and 28.7% (Real Estate Institute of Victoria). The disparity of results reflects the unreliable nature of the raw data and the non-homogenous nature of property (ie no two properties are identical).   But will these prices...

Jo Macdermott from Next Marketing explains how to use networking events to effectively represent your brand, gain new customers and grow your business. Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve When I invest the time and some money into attending various networking events, I...

The Reserve Bank met today lifting interest rates by 0.25%, taking the cash target rate to 4.00% With two thirds of analysts predicting a rate rise, today's decision to lift rates for the first time this year did not catch the market off guard. The Australian dollar was...

The Australian dollar is both friend and foe to investors. The Australian dollar’s movement over a year...

Trying to understand financial markets by tracking the daily media headlines is like trying to tell the time by tracking the second hand of a watch. By focusing on the minutiae, you risk missing the big picture.   Much of the investment-related news that fills the vast...

Superannuation is the subject of an unprecedented level of speculation about possible legislative changes – and investors should expect that to continue through most of next year.   Much of this conjecture is attributable to the two major Government inquiries into tax and super* currently underway, and...

A lot of time and energy goes into forecasting the likely movements in share markets all around the world each day every day.  This is all important work as it helps investors determine what is a fair and reasonable price for a particular investment.  Unfortunately al through history events...

Standard & Poors in the US produce a semi-annual report looking at whether mutual funds (managed funds in Australia) show ebidence of continued out-performance otherwise known as persistence.   Their latest report dated January 2010 looks at the 5 year window ending September 2009.  What they found...

Executive Summary - The Reserve Bank of Australia is positive and confident about the economic growth prospects for Australia over the medium term. - The performance of International shares has been weak compared to Australian shares over the past decade. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, the...

It's that time again. After a healthy rally on the share market, pundits are saying the easy gains are over and it's time to sharpen your pencils and start narrowing your portfolio down to a few tried and tested "blue chips".   The notion behind...

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria says Melbourne’s median house prices hit $540,500, up 28.7% (or $120,500) in 12 months.   But not everyone agrees. Australian Property Monitors says growth was 18.5%, RP Data-Rismark reports 14.9% and Residex says 14.25%.   Each market research company...

The tax office has begun 2010 with a renewed get-tough strike against the operators of illegal early-release super schemes. These ubiquitous schemes – which are no doubt one of...