During a year when there was so much drama, and turbulence in investment markets, 2020 ended much like it started – with most equity markets at or near all time highs! During the year we saw the sharpest and fastest bear market in history followed by an equally astounding rebound in global equity markets. The pace of the market recovery amidst a global pandemic and lockdowns was a greater surprise than the pandemic induced sell-off. If 2020 isn’t one of the most humbling years for market pundits and forecasters, then it is hard to imagine what would be! Inactivity as an Investment Superpower ..read more

What a difference a year makes. Okay, technically it’s been 18 months since the last Federal budget, but let’s not split hairs.  The contrast between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s “Back in Black” budget of April 2019 and last night’s “Road to Recovery” version could not have been greater. Of course the reason the Budget was delayed six months was due to the absolute pandemonium that befell Australia in March this year, just as Treasury would normally have been putting the finishing touches on another budgetary process. Instead it was all hands on deck, as COVID-19 effectively brought Austra ..read more

Image: Shutterstock Key Take-outs: One of the most volatile six months in share market history came to a close with markets here and overseas recovering much of the dramatic falls of February-March. The turnaround was nothing short of breathtaking, with the Aussie S&P/ASX200 index posting a 16.5% rise between April and June, while the US S&P 500 index rose 20.5%. While not erasing the Feb-March falls in full, the rebound in equity markets has helped diversified portfolios to close out the financial year in reasonable shape. Equity markets continue to be supported by policies implement ..read more

Credit: Photo by Sandro Capatti/Shutterstock: Daily life during the Coronavirus outbreak, Parma, Italy Key Take-outs: The stellar returns of 2019 were erased in full by one of the fastest (and possibly shortest) bear markets in history, with the bellwether US S&P 500 index falling 35% in the four weeks between late Feb and late March as market panic spread worldwide. After the punishing drawdown, markets, particularly the US, have recovered strongly, with the S&P 500 index gaining 23.6% since its late March lows. The Australian sharemarket has been less responsive, weighed down by the ..read more

It’s nearing midnight as I write this, having just wrapped my head around the latest measures announced from tonight’s National Cabinet meeting of the Prime Minister and Premiers/Chief Ministers of the States and Territories. That was after spending much of the afternoon combing through press releases and bulletins detailing the additional $66 billion economic rescue package announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg earlier today, adding to the $17.6 billion stimulus package announced on 12 March. Events are unfolding so rapidly that the measures just ann ..read more

You never forget your first share market plunge. It was August 1997 and there I was, a mere few months in my new role as a Para-Planner (the term for a Financial Planner in training) with the private client arm of one of the world’s largest accounting firms. As is typical of many twenty-something year olds with a finance degree, I rated my ability as an up-and-coming share market wiz highly. I had already built up a small portfolio of direct shareholdings in what could best be described as ‘speculative’ positions, with plans to add newbie miners, biotechnology startups and the fledglin ..read more

Here we go again. The financial headlines are once again screaming financial market annihilation and impending collapse. “ASX slammed” shouts one, while another tells of a “Wall Street crumble” and, in relation to the Dow Jones, “the biggest point drop in history”. Everywhere you look, the financial news is currently filled with stories of share markets crashing and of investors fleeing, presumably for the safety of cash. To a novice investor these shrill warnings can’t help but create anxiety, however long-standing Clover investors will know that we’ll hear these same siren songs from ti ..read more

Yes it’s that time again. Time to relive a scene that’s played out with annoying regularity. The one where skittish financial markets combine with an eyeball-chasing media to help the nervous transfer their future wealth to the patient. Once again the headlines are screaming about financial disaster and impending doom. “Aussie stock market slumps after US-China trade war prompts Wall Street plunge” cried one earlier this week, while “Wall Street slumps as yuan slide intensifies trade fears” shrieked another. These headlines are designed to grab your attention. That is, after all, the wh ..read more

By the time I headed off to bed last Saturday, the federal election was effectively over, with Labor leader Bill Shorten conceded that it was unlikely that Labor would win the seats required to form government. The election result came as a surprise to many political pundits, given that most polls had predicted a comfortable Labor win in the run-up to the election. As I write this, the Liberal/National coalition has secured 78 seats, ensuring a majority for the new Morrison government in the upcoming 46th Parliament of Australia. Waking up to a cold Sunday morning with the ..read more

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg stood up in Parliament yesterday evening to deliver his maiden Budget speech as Treasurer, having inherited the job some seven months ago amidst the Liberal party in-fighting and change of leadership. There’s a lot riding on this Budget, and it shows. In essence this Budget has one job, and one job only; to put the Coalition government in a position where it has the best chance of retaining government at the yet-to-be-called general election. Political pundits now put the most likely date of the next election at 11 May, a mere five or so weeks away. We’ll k ..read more