Underperforming Yourself

Investors may understandably be puzzled if their investment returns are very different from the managed investment funds holding their money. Vanguard analysts in Australia and the US have examined this phenomenon in which investors appear to be effectively underperforming themselves.

Read More

View From The Top Of The Market

Mountain peaks challenge the endurance, courage and skill of climbers. A celebration at reaching the top of a mountain – or perhaps more appropriately when you get safely back down – is both understandable and well-earned. But the sense of anticipation and celebration when a sharemarket index is within sight of or hits a new peak is a little harder to fathom.

Read More

SMSFs: Looking To The Future – Realistically

Understandably, trustees of new self-managed super funds are typically full of optimism about what can be achieved. It’s human nature. Yet while investors are extremely enthusiastic about establishing self-managed super funds, statistics suggest they are less enthusiastic about closing them down even if their circumstances change.

Read More

Forecasts Down Through The Ages

Forecasts are always fraught with danger. The longer the time frame the more susceptible forecasts will be to wide variations in the range of possible outcomes. Which makes the Federal Government’s Intergenerational Report (IGR) such a fascinating exercise given it is trying to forecast what Australia will look like four decades hence.

Read More