Frosty mornings, bright lights and a new financial year

Winter is well upon us and if you are like most in our part of the world, you are probably still trying hard to adjust to the frosty mornings and a lack of sleep from watching sporting events like Wimbeldon and the Tour de France. If you concentrate on southern hemisphere sport then perhaps you have enjoyed the spectacle of night matches in Geelong, courtesy of the new bright lights at Skilled Stadium.

On the financial front, entering a new financial year is a good chance to reflect on the year that was. In our 2012 Winter Newsletter we wrote “Let me go out on a limb ……… I believe the sharemarket will recover this year”.

Indeed, the sharemarket has enjoyed a good recovery over the past 12 months with the All Ordinaries index up 19% since that statement. It is pleasing to see this increase flow through to our client portfolios.
It is also a great time to reflect on what is really important as an investor. For most people approaching retirement, or already in retirement, income is the most important consideration. Great as it is to see the capital value of investments increase, this is somewhat less important than the income generated by your investments.
We thought this video by Paul Clitheroe, director at iPac Securities, summed up the importance of income very well.

Click here to read the 2013 Winter Newsletter

Technology – You are never too old!

In this day and age we find most clients now have internet access and can regularly monitor their investment and superannuation portfolios.

We have clients in their 90’s, who use the computer to regularly communicate with others including their grandchildren.

From a business perspective, it has also made communication to our clients more efficient. In the past a client letter could be posted and take a week for them to receive a reply via the post. We now strive to achieve same day replies to client email communications.

We recently placed ‘iPads’ in our reception for client use and it was interesting to see a 75 year old lady, whilst waiting in reception, use our iPad to go online and get her bank balance prior to her appointment.

Times are changing rapidly and most seem to be embracing this. Jump on the bandwagon or give us a call to see if we can bring you on board.

Click here to read the 2013 Autumn Newsletter

Will the sharemarket resurgence continue?

Welcome to 2013 and all the joy your financial planning will bring this year! We hope it echoes the comments in our newsletter to start 2012: “It’s going to be a good year.” Such optimism was rewarded with good investment returns for our client portfolios over 2012.

We believe 2013 will see a continuation of the rising investment markets. You may like to read the full article by leading economist Dr Shane Oliver on our website. Some of the key points of the article follow:

• While 2012 had its share of worries, it turned out far better than feared and sharemarkets and growth assets were able to generate strong returns for investors. This was boosted by investors looking for higher yields in the face of zero or falling cash rates.
• The combination of diminishing extreme global downside-risks, a modest pick up in growth as the year progresses and attractive valuations for most growth assets point to another year of reasonable returns in 2013. Expect interest rates to remain low globally and fall a bit further in Australia.
• The main risks going forward relate to US budget and debt problems, a relapse in Europe, slow growth in Australia and a sharp back-up in bond yields if investors get more confident.

Click here to read the 2013 Summer Newsletter