What is the risk?
AMP Capital's Dr Shane Oliver looks discusses the potential consequences of a deflationary spiral versus rising inflation on your hip-pocket. Enjoy. Read more here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
27/11/13: Perth tipped to grow fastest
Perth to grow beyond Brisbane...
A quick and interesting article on Perth's growth prospects. Enjoy. Read more here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
20/11/13: The power of good advice
7 good reasons to get good financial advice
If you're not sure if you need or want financial advice, perhaps thinking about doing it all yourself? Read on...
Read 7 Good Reasons Read Robert Kiyosaki's Blog
Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
15/11/13: China on track
Better than expected...
China's growth cycle is stabilising and that's good news for Australia's economy, our markets, and possibly your super fund. AMP Capital's Dr Shane Oliver weighs in on recent fears over slowing Chinese growth with a typically calm, well balanced commentary. As always, his article is easy to read and not overly technical. Enjoy! Read more here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
04/11/13: Avoiding excess risk in a low-interest environment
Don't upset the fine balance...
The strong growth in the prices of many Australian shares over the past year is attributable, in part, to the buying of yield-hunting investors. A number of high-yielding financial stocks, for instance, are trading at or near to record highs.
Predictably, in the prevailing low-interest environment, many investors are now turning to more concentrated portfolios of high-yielding shares in an effort to maintain their investment yields and their lifestyles. But, unfortunately, this pursuit of yields comes at the cost of undertaking a higher level of risk for an investor's overall investment portfolio.
Rather than exposing portfolios to higher risk and upsetting carefully diversified portfolios in a hunt for income, investors should focus more on a portfolio's total return – that is the combination of its income and capital growth. With this approach, investors in need of more income than produced by a portfolio draw an amount taken from their portfolio's total return, taking into account cash-flow and capital appreciation.
In this way, investors can remain on track to achieving their long-time goals without upsetting their portfolio's diversification and without taking greater risks. Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
16/10/13: Spring Property Report (Westmount Clients Only)
Region/Suburb/Commentary
A suburb-by-suburb analysis of the residential property market, accurate to September 30th 2013. Enjoy. Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
25/09/13: The outlook for unlisted commercial property
Have returns peaked?
Australian unlisted commercial property returns have been strong over the last three years, recovering from the GFC driven slump of 2008/09. So can these high returns be maintained or are we moving into a lower return phase? Read more here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
19/09/13: UPDATE: DecTaper?
The US Federal Reserve chooses to do nothing...
Last night, the US Federal Reserve decided that the US economy just isn't strong enough (yet) to begin tapering off its $85 billion per month bond buying program (ie printing money). At the time of writing, global markets have reacted predictably, pushing share markets to all time highs, and here in Australia to a five year high.
All eyes on November/December for the next instalment. In the meantime, enjoy the market bounce, but be careful out there. Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
17/09/13: Welcome to 'SepTaper'!
Is 'quantitative easing' coming to an end?
On Thursday our time, the US Federal Reserve will likely make a statement about their quantitative easing program. Most are expecting the US central bank to begin 'tapering off' bond purchases (or in layman's terms - printing money) between now and November. While no one expects anything too extreme, this signifies a change in approach and needs to be considered by investors. If you're wondering what this all means (it's a technical area), please call me personally. Read more here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
10/09/13: Top drawer investment
Outside the Flags...
One old adage about investment is that you buy a bunch of reliable stocks, stick them in your bottom drawer and forget about them. That ignores one pesky fact: Nothing stays the same. Read more here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
09/09/13: Australia's housing outlook
...and implications for investors
In this commentary, MLCs Senior Investment Strategist, Michael Karangianis, takes a balanced look at our housing sector, contrasting the Australian landscape with experiences overseas. A good, simple read. Read commentary here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
05/09/13: Need more time?
Invest smarter and save time...
Ask any of your friends what they wish they had more of in life and perhaps a few might say a faster car or bigger house - but what most people are really looking for is more time.
Investing your hard earned money in a smarter, more efficient manner not only allows you to spend more time focussing on a smaller selection of investments, it also allows you to spend more time on other, more important matters beyond the process of investing, like your health, your family, your friendships or your business.
Your Financial Planner is the same. By investing your superannuation or pension fund more efficiently, they'll have more time to help you achieve your goals, improve your retirement outcome, reduce your tax, protect your estate, and just generally help to control the controllable.
At Westmount, we believe that markets work, 'asset allocation' drives performance more than anything else and costs really do matter. In other words, it is infinitely possible to construct an effective investment portfolio (superannuation or otherwise) in a way that doesn't require constant monitoring, regular tinkering and an enormous fee to pull it all together. This has some obvious benefits for clients - lower costs, less stress, simplification and, yes, more time.
So if you believe that your life is a little more complicated than it should be, particularly in the area of investing or superannuation, don't just shrug your shoulders and accept the way things are. Instead, ask yourself, what else could I be doing with my precious time? And then call us to change the script for good. Read all about 'indexing' here Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
04/09/13: The Power of Good Advice
Why paying more means getting rich
World renowned financial author and mentor, Robert Kiyosaki, has a great way a boiling things down to simple, basic, principles cutting through much of the background 'noise' that tends to distract and derail investors from achieving their financial dreams. As a Financial Advisor, I'm often asked about fees and our 'valued add' and this is true of most professions. This to-the-point article, found on Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad' website (click here) highlights the importance of obtaining good, professional advice, and being prepared to pay for it. Easy reading- enjoy! The Power of Good Advice Rick Maggi (Westmount. Financial Solutions.)
01/09/13: The US fiscal cliff, debt ceiling and economic outlook.
Oliver's Insights for January 2013
This note looks at the deal to avert the US fiscal cliff along with its debt ceiling and broader economic outlook. Generally pretty positive for 2013 (easy reading). Enjoy! Rick Maggi. Read here
30/08/13: The impact of major events...
1988-2013
As the world moves toward a potential conflict with Syria, it's interesting to take a look back at how events have impacted on local and global share markets in the past. This graph, produced by Colonial First State, is an interesting one. Rick Maggi. View graph here
22/08/13: Franking Credits 101
What are Franking Credits?
With the Coalition's plan to impose a 1.5% levy on the top 3200 companies in Australia to help pay for their six-month paid parental leave proposal, we've had a few questions about franking credits and how the proposal might impact investors and retirees. While the full details are yet to be announced, based on the current rumours, the actual impact on franked dividends would be fairly minimal - much ado about nothing. The following is a back to basics explanation of franking credits for the uninitiated… What are Franking Credits?
19/08/13: The Broccoli & Pizza Portfolio
Insights from Dimensional's Jim Parker
It's often hard to give up on the idea that investment should be exciting - an interesting article from Dimensional VP, Jim Parker. Rick Maggi Read more here.
05/08/13: Consistency over the long term
Australian and international equities. Which sector performed the best?
Picking the market sector that will outperform and timing it to maximise returns is a difficult thing to do. Produced by Vanguard Australia, the following tables graphically illustrate the performance of different sectors (within the Australian share market) and the performance of different regions (international shares).
The take away is simple one. Building a portfolio within broadly diversified equity funds at the core can help lower risk and smooth out peaks and troughs in returns over time. Rick Maggi
12/08/13: Property: Autumn Report (Westmount Clients Only)
Suburb-by-suburb property report...
Accurate to April 30th 2013, these two reports provide a general guide for investors and suburb-by-suburb statistics.
26/07/13: The Vanguard Index Chart 2012-13 (Westmount Clients Only)
Some eye candy...
Every year Vanguard releases it's 'Vanguard Index Chart' and it's always worth a look. The chart illustrates what the value of $10,000 invested twenty years ago might be worth today had you invested in various sectors such as Australian shares, commercial property, cash etc. Along the twenty-year journey you see the impact of important events (both positive and negative) such as 9/11, US subprime and the Japanese Tsunami on markets and the value of the original investment. Vanguard also includes a second graph, called 'the power of diversification' which shows the performance of each sector in percentage terms, every year, for the last twenty years.
Seeing visual proof of market volatility (all of them), each having their day in the sun, followed by less than happy times, serves as a potent reminder of the importance of diversification and patience. We can all do with some gentle encouragement, especially during tougher, challenging times, so I like to keep this chart on my wall! Rick Maggi. View charts here