2016 Review and Outlook for 2017

2016 Review: some surprising events but ok overall 2016 will undoubtedly be remembered as a year of unexpected outcomes, particularly in a political context. The sudden rise of “populist politics” delivered a number of surprising vote outcomes around the world including the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States and

The ‘Trump Effect’ on markets – what to expect

Despite being consistently written off as having little or no chance of defeating his opponent, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump won the recent US Presidential Election and will succeed Barack Obama in late January 2017 to become the 45th President of the United States. In this article, we take a look at what impact Trump’s presidency

Generating income from investments

The current low interest rate environment has led many income focused investors to look for assets which produce a higher level of yield than cash. Often these investors have chosen Australian shares which pay strong dividends and have franking credits attached. However, the events of the past month have been a timely reminder that dividends

Staying calm during a volatile market

Welcome to the New Year, we look forward to guiding you through the investment market in 2016. 2015 in review At home the broader Australian market (S&P ASX300) finished just 2.8% up for the calender year, trading between 5982 in late April to 4918 in late September. All major commodities continued to fall throughout the

Socially Responsible Investment

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) takes into consideration not only the financial returns of a company but the social impact it makes. This can involve various levels of social responsibility from sustainability themed investing, negative screening (avoiding certain types of companies, for example, alcohol, gaming and tobacco) to best practice in relation to environmental, social

Investing for income in retirement

A large number of Australia’s population are approaching retirement age and looking for an income stream to fund their retirement. By law retirees aged between 65 and 74 need to drawdown a minimum of 5% of the value of their pension investments each year. Unfortunately, a conservative investment portfolio will generally provide a return below

Australian share market latest news

The Australian share market has experienced a very difficult period since March 2015. We have summarised some of the key impacts on Australian shares, looking at the macro level and micro level factors that are playing a part. Macro level factors Earnings growth: Over the next two years there is an expectation that the Australian

US interest rates and Australian Markets

Recent events overseas have certainly proven that the world’s markets are truly global and inter-connected. We have been shown that we are all in a global economy where we are affected by what is happening in other key countries and regions. Over the last two months, we have published updates to help you understand

Investment Market Update – 26 August 2015

Market corrections - a necessary pain Share markets around the world have fallen sharply over the last week. A number of events including a revaluation of the Chinese currency, weak Chinese manufacturing results and the expectation that the US will raise interest rates sooner rather than later, have combined to produce one of the