With the turmoil in the markets since the beginning of the year, it can be quite unsettling for investors and those relying on their super for their income. Additionally, given the nerve-wracking uncertainty of a possible trade war and its threat of recession, prospects may seem dire for the world economy as a whole. Nonetheless,
As you can see from the chart below, the Australian Share market (as measured by the ASX200 Index) peaked back on the 13th of August. Since that time, the market has shown increased volatility (ie more extreme day to day movements) and more or less tracked sideways but with a bit of a downward trend.
No doubt we’re all thankful to put 2020 behind us and hope for better things in 2021. Which begs the question, is there cause for optimism, given that much of the rest of the world is still struggling with the pandemic? In our view there is! There will always be some unforeseen event that causes
The start of 2020 has certainly been challenging, from the devastating Australian bushfires over the new year period to the current global COVID-19 pandemic. This month, we look at developments in the March quarter and into April, a period which will be remembered in investment history as the “coronavirus crash”, as COVID-19 took hold of
As we write, stockmarkets around the world seem to have finally taken notice of the Coronavirus outbreak. We are seeing headlines like “market tumbles” and “$50 billion wiped off market”. In spite of the virus being regarded as having serious economic consequences for some weeks now, the sell off seems to have been triggered by
First of all, we would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a happy new year! Throughout 2019, our updates sought to outline and discuss our prevailing view that, despite undeniable existence of several (potentially significant) headwinds, investors should remain cautiously optimistic about the medium to long term prospects for markets. This view
In 2017, we experienced a relatively benign year for investors with diversified portfolios. Returns were solid, with the typical Balanced super fund returning about 10% and volatility was low. So coming into 2018 confidence was high. But what transpired was an increase in volatility and in October and November, a strong correction in share prices
