The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Residential Property Price Report suggests house prices eased in most capital cities in the March quarter. This note provides an update on my house price valuation estimates. It suggests that while Sydney property remains relatively overvalued, several other capital cities now appear relatively cheap.  Importantly, however, overall Australian house

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In an era of central-bank inflation targeting, what matters most is arguably not inflation, but inflationary pressures. If actual core inflation is contained through tighter monetary policy (as the US Federal Reserve is attempting to do now in the US), it means higher real policy rates and also higher real discount rates for all asset

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Investors fearful of major equity market declines often decide to include in their portfolios relatively “safe” assets such as cash and bonds so as to limit their downside.  The problem with this approach is that seeking safety can be costly in terms of forgone returns, especially given today’s generally low level of interest rates.  Investing

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Industry crosses $38B mark The Australian ETF industry continued to grow last month, reaching a record high of $38.4B. The Industry grew 1.4% in the month ($534m),  the vast majority (~90%) of which came from new inflows, rather than asset appreciation. Read on for details of the month in ETFs.

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Month in Review – easing interest rate risk supports stocks Global equities continued their rebound in May, after good gains in April, as interest rate and geopolitical risks eased somewhat, while the tail end of the US corporate earnings remained strong. The MSCI All-Country Net-Return Index returned 0.8% in local-currency terms, after a gain of

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We’re now well and truly living through a digital revolution, and most of us will be aware that a significant portion of our private data has moved online.  This includes everything from internet banking and tax statements, to photos of ourselves and family members on Facebook, to our smart phones constantly backing up all of

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In light of revelations arising from the Banking Royal Commission, there’s now an even greater industry focus on the fees being charged for investment advice and financial products. As this note demonstrates, ensuring investment fees are not excessive is one key way investors can look to boost their investment returns over time. Investment Fees: The

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Real assets are tangible assets like property, infrastructure and utilities and they are quite different to financial assets such as cash, bonds and shares, as they rely on you, and the rest of the population, to help them generate investment returns. A day in the life – you use real assets every day Without even

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Last week’s technical break higher in US 10-year bond yields has understandably led to concerns that rates could head much higher and potentially undermine equity valuations.  Against this background, this note assesses the outlook for both US bond yields and the equity market. Going Up: US 10-year Yields break the 3% barrier After trading largely

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If you’re utilising a self-managed super fund (SMSF) for your superannuation, then you’ll want to be very smart and strategic about the portfolio that makes up that SMSF. After all, it is your retirement fund, and accumulating as much wealth through it as possible is essential. Many people look to SMSFs in order to give

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