Posts

You are here: Home / Archives for 2011

The Silver Lining

December 19, 2011 By

Uncertainty in Europe, a volatile share market and falling property prices; there has to be some good news! Today I feel a little like Santa Clause for those with large debts as there is a silver lining. With inflation on the way down and predictions of a slowing economy we have now seen interest rates fall two months in a row. Interest rates have now fallen half of a percent, equating to $1500 saving a year or $125 a month, for those with a $300,000 mortgage. With a couple more interest rate falls predicted by a number of economists, do we just ride the gravy train all the way down and hope they stay down long enough to get some real benefit? Or do we take advantage of some very competitive fixed rates and lock them in for a period of time? [Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: Budget, General, Investment, Property Tagged With:

Things Change

December 16, 2011 By

It’s that time of again, when harried finance editors ask reporters to call investment professionals and cobble together top predictions for the coming year. These are fun to write. But for readers, they’re more entertaining a year later.

Take the late 2010 Barclays Capital Global Macro Survey of more than two thousand institutional investors. The pick for the best performing asset class in 2011 was equities (with 40% support), followed by commodities (34%) and bonds (less than 10%).1 The consensus prediction was a 15% gain in the US S&P-500 for the year to around 1,420.

As we now know, the truth turned out to be rather different. To the beginning of December and using broad indices, diversified fixed income was the best performing asset class of the year, followed by government bonds. Returns from commodities and equities were negative. The year-to-date return for the S&P-500 was close to zero. (And remember, these are the forecasts of big institutional investors.) [Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: General, Investment

Living with Volatility

August 10, 2011 By

The current renewed volatility in financial markets is reviving unwelcome feelings among many investors—feelings of anxiety, fear and a sense of powerlessness. These are completely natural responses. Acting on those emotions, though, can end up doing us more harm than good.

At base, the increase in market volatility is an expression of uncertainty. The sovereign debt strains in the US and Europe, together with renewed worries over financial institutions and fears of another recession, are leading market participants to apply a higher discount to risky assets.

So developed world equities, oil and industrial commodities, emerging markets and commodity-related currencies like the Australian dollar are weakening as risk aversion drives investors to the perceived safe havens of government bonds, gold and Swiss francs.

It is all reminiscent of the events of 2008 when the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the sub-prime mortgage crisis triggered a global market correction. This time, however, the focus of concern has turned from private sector to public sector balance sheets.

As to what happens next, no-one knows for sure. That is the nature of risk. But there are seven simple lessons that individual investors can keep in mind to make living with this volatility more bearable. [Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: General, Investment, Superannuation Tagged With: , , ,

Tax planning is essential to minimise your tax bill

May 31, 2011 By

It is no use getting to the accountant in September and asking them to save you tax. While they can claim all you’re entitled to, they can’t take advantage of things you could have done to reduce your tax.

There are a number of aspects to tax planning, including:

• Deferral of income
• Splitting of income to take advantage of lower tax rates and tax offsets
• Bringing forward expenses to the current tax year

We have broken tax planning down into 3 categories. [Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: Investment, Property, Tax Tips

Try our Solar Calculator

April 12, 2011 By

The Government grant for solar installation will be reduced by 20% in July 2011 (an approximate reduction of $1200). This reduction in government support will mean that solar will become more expensive to install after 1 July 2011. The rebates will continue to decrease until 2015 when rebates will no longer be offered, as the Government believes solar prices will have decreased enough to be affordable.

To make your life easier in deciding what system is suitable for you and in fact whether you feel it is a worthwhile investment, we have created a solar calculator that takes into account your changing electricity consumption or production and the financing costs of installing. We have built the solar calculator so you can estimate what you think will be the increase in the cost of electricity into the future. The higher you think electricity prices will increase the more you will benefit by installing solar. [Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: Budget, General Tagged With: , , ,

The Forest and the Trees

March 8, 2011 By

Many investors cherish the notion that if they only had instant access to the information sources of market professionals—the stock research and broker calls and economic forecasts—their wealth-building dreams would be much further advanced. So, what if you had acted on those big professional calls in the past year?

Financial information group Bloomberg1 recently carried out an analysis of broker recommendations for stocks in the US equity benchmark, the S&P 500 index. It found that the companies that analysts recommended most highly rose by 73 per cent on average in the period from the trough of the market in March 2009 until early 2011.

That sounds pretty good until you realise that the index itself rose by 88 per cent in the same period. Now, compare the performances of the most loved stocks against those with the fewest buy recommendations in the Bloomberg survey. This latter group rose by 165 per cent on average during that period, or more than twice as much as the “top” stocks.

Why analysts get it so wrong can be easily explained: [Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: General, Investment

Medical Tax offset

March 4, 2011 By

Did you know that you can claim your medical tax offset for medical expenses paid for or on behalf of dependants in your tax return? A medical tax offset can be claimed for you, your spouse, your children and even possibly an invalid relative.

The medical tax offset is calculated based on your net out of pocket expenses. That is your total medical expenses less any refunds that either yourself or your dependants have received or are entitled to receive. This includes refunds from both Medicare and your private health insurer.

You can claim the following for your medical tax offset: [Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: General, Tax Tips

The Price of Bad Advice

January 20, 2011 By

Question: How to compare the price of a client-centred fee-only financial advisor with the “free” services supplied by a broker?

Answer: In the second instance, the bill comes much later and at potentially far higher cost.

Pursuing sales people masquerading as advisors has been a major focus in the past year for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a watchdog which shares this column’s view about the risks of investing “outside the flags“.

In one of its most high-profile recent actions, ASIC instigated court proceedings against the promoter of a fraudulent investment scheme that robbed hard-working Australians of more than $100 million in retirement savings.

[Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: General, Investment, Property Tagged With: , , ,

Education Tax Refund

January 20, 2011 By

Ensure you get the most back at tax time.

Eligible parents can claim the Education Tax Refund (ETF) in their individual tax returns. The ETF is a fully refundable tax offset that will be paid as part of your tax assessment. (For those not required to lodge an income tax return, a stand-alone claim form can be used).

The maximum you can claim is 50% of eligible expenses up to:

  • $780 for each eligible student in primary school – that is, a refund of up to $390
  • $1,558 for each eligible student in secondary school – that is, a refund of up to $779.

If the expenses exceed your refund for the financial year, you can carry forward the excess expenses from one year to the next, for one year only (as long as you are still eligible).

Eligible education expenses that you can claim include:

[Read more...]

Facebook Twitter Email Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr
Filed Under: Budget, General, Tax Tips Tagged With: , , , ,

The Warren Robinson Family Trust trading as Mango Wealth Creation provides Financial Planning Advice as a Corporate Authorised Representative (346128) of Charter Financial Planning Limited ABN 35 002 976 294 AFS Licence No. 234665 Registered Office: Level 9, 750 Collins Street, Docklands, GPO Box 2830AA, Melbourne VIC 3000
Information provided on this website is general in nature and does not constitute financial advice. Mango Wealth Creation will endeavour to update the website as needed. However, information can change without notice and Mango Wealth Creation does not guarantee the accuracy of information on the website, including information provided by third parties, at any particular time. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate. Individuals must not rely on this information to make a financial or investment decision. Before making any decision, we recommend you consult a financial planner to take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation and individual needs. Mango Wealth Creation does not give any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of information which is contained in this website. Except insofar as any liability under statute cannot be excluded, Charter Financial Planning, its employees do not accept any liability for any error or omission on this web site or for any resulting loss or damage suffered by the recipient or any other person. Unless otherwise specified, copyright of information provided on this website is owned by Charter Financial Planning. You may not alter or modify this information in any way, including the removal of this copyright notice.