Rick Maggi

21 April 2021

Property

3 reasons why the property bull market might be coming to an end...

Rick Maggi

21 April 2021

Property

The Australian housing market is booming. Prices are rising sharply, auction clearance rates are very strong, sales are surging, and housing finance is around record highs…

Rick Maggi

18 April 2021

CFDs

ASIC clamps down on two high-risk investment products...

Rick Maggi

18 April 2021

CFDs

ASIC clamps down on two high-risk investment products...

What are contracts for difference (CFDs) and binary options? Why is ASIC now tightening restrictions on these two high-risk investment products?

Rick Maggi

16 April 2021

Economics, Educational, Investing, Market/Economic Update, Market Risk, Superannuation, Retirement, Westmount Financial

Sweet spot...

Rick Maggi

16 April 2021

Economics, Educational, Investing, Market/Economic Update, Market Risk, Superannuation, Retirement, Westmount Financial

Jason Todd, Head of Wealth Management Investment Strategy at Macquarie Group, presents an excellent summary current economic and market conditions…

Rick Maggi

14 April 2021

Educational, Investing, Superannuation, Retirement

The importance of starting point valuations...

Rick Maggi

14 April 2021

Educational, Investing, Superannuation, Retirement

The importance of starting point valuations...

It makes sense that the cheaper you buy an asset the higher its prospective return will be. However, this is frequently forgotten with investors often tempted to project recent returns into the future regardless of valuations…

Rick Maggi

7 April 2021

Interest Rates

RBA on hold and likely to remain easy for a long time...

Rick Maggi

7 April 2021

Interest Rates

RBA on hold and likely to remain easy for a long time...

Normally the RBA might now be starting to contemplate rate hikes for some time in the next year but their operating function is now very different to that seen prior to the pandemic…

Rick Maggi

6 April 2021

Event Driven Update, Interest Rates

April Rate Call...

Rick Maggi

6 April 2021

Event Driven Update, Interest Rates

The RBA has left interest rates on hold at 0.1 per cent, saying that while it was monitoring the housing market and economic recovery it remains committed to its current policy settings.

Rick Maggi

4 April 2021

Educational, Ethical Investing, Investing, ESG

Climate Change & Asset Prices

Rick Maggi

4 April 2021

Educational, Ethical Investing, Investing, ESG

Plenty of evidence suggests markets do a good job of reflecting information about climate change in asset prices—which may encourage firms to manage their climate risk exposure…

Rick Maggi

3 April 2021

ESG, Electric vehicles

Big Market Delusion: Electric Vehicles

Rick Maggi

3 April 2021

ESG, Electric vehicles

Big markets have a special allure for investors. They offer the promise of another Apple, Google, or Microsoft…

Rick Maggi

1 April 2021

Market Outlook - global recovery, vaccines, inflation etc etc

Rick Maggi

1 April 2021

Market Outlook - global recovery, vaccines, inflation etc etc

This note covers the main questions investors commonly have regarding the investment outlook in a simple Q&A format…

Rick Maggi

1 April 2021

Educational, Exchange Traded Funds, Dividends, Distributions

Dividends & Distributions - what's the difference?

Rick Maggi

1 April 2021

Educational, Exchange Traded Funds, Dividends, Distributions

Dividends & Distributions - what's the difference?

What's a dividend and what's a distribution? Find out the difference between the two and how they work when it comes to ETFs…

Rick Maggi

26 March 2021

Bonds, Superannuation, Retirement, Investing

Why bonds still matter...

Rick Maggi

26 March 2021

Bonds, Superannuation, Retirement, Investing

There's been much discussion about recent events in the bond market both globally and in Australia, with even Warren Buffett weighing in on the topic, declaring that the fixed income market is not the place for investors to be these days…

Rick Maggi

23 March 2021

Coronavirus, Market/Economic Update

Covid crash one year on...

Rick Maggi

23 March 2021

Coronavirus, Market/Economic Update

Hungarian-born illusionist Harry Houdini was famous for his great escapes. So was American actor Steve McQueen, at least in his onscreen role in the 1963 film classic The Great Escape…

Rick Maggi

22 March 2021

Women Advice

The gender pay gap...

Rick Maggi

22 March 2021

Women Advice

Women are entering retirement with significantly less superannuation and personal savings than men – leading to a growing class of women living out their golden years in poverty. We explore how the gender pay gap is adding to this growing epidemic…

Rick Maggi

18 March 2021

Should I borrow to invest in shares?

Rick Maggi

18 March 2021

Borrowing to buy shares can accelerate the wealth building process, but it is also a two-edged sword with significant risks, all of which should be discussed with a financial advisor to determine whether this is the right way to go for you. The following is a basic summary of the mechanics, produced by Macquarie…