China may run hot, but will investors overheat?
China’s stock market has rallied on the back of a smooth leadership transition, a reduction in global risk and a broader move out of bonds back into equities worldwide. Another round of market reform and more government efforts to refocus the fastest growing economy in the world on domestic consumption are expected to drive further gains,
February 19, 2013
Cormann attacks Shorten over super tax grab
The federal election may be months away but Senator Mathias Cormann was a man in a hurry at Friday’s conclusion of the SPAA National Conference in Melbourne. Before a receptive audience, the shadow minister for financial services and superannuation was in full electioneering mode, slamming the government for “treating people’s retirement savings like an ATM”,
February 18, 2013
2013: another year of living dangerously?
Last year was a tumultuous one in many ways, with serious economic and political challenges keeping financial markets on edge for much of the year. It was only the actions of central banks to inject enormous liquidity that ultimately calmed market nerves and delivered strong investment returns in 2012. High levels of private sector debt
February 14, 2013
February 2013:
Digital content
A guide to the Professional Planner February 2013 edition and links to authors and additional content. features 08 forum Challenges facing the private banking industry Australia’s leading private banks are grappling with how to best position themselves for when clients start to look for alternatives to cash. 12 cover story SMSF advisers under the microscope With new
February 12, 2013
The AFA’s Brad Fox on clients, codes and conduct
In his time as an AFL player with Essendon, Brad Fox was involved in an altercation with Tony Lockett in which the recently appointed chief executive of the Association of Financial Advisers was choked to near unconsciousness in a headlock. While Fox was neither the first nor last player to come off second best in
February 11, 2013
Local, global markets rally as political calm returns
Just a month into 2013 and so many of the worries of 2012 seem a distant memory. It was just six months ago that the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, had to pledge to do “whatever it takes” to prevent a meltdown of confidence in Europe. The perpetual worry about a double-dip
February 11, 2013
Industry funds compare the pair and 20,000 SoAs
The $60 billion industry superannuation fund AustralianSuper produced about 10,000 statements of advice in 2012. The fund’s head of policy and public affairs, Louise du Pre-Alba, says it expects to produce about 20,000 SoAs this year. Think about this. AustralianSuper alone has about two million members. What if this super fund puts its arms around
February 07, 2013
Defending the investment manager
The conventional wisdom in some quarters is that fund managers underperform. But does this stand up to analysis? “Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field. Such ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined,” according to Wikipedia. So, let’s examine.
February 05, 2013
HEALTH WARNING:
9% returns
If a year could come stamped with a health warning – or, better still, a wealth warning – then 2013 should carry one. Of course, many would say that this applies to bond markets, but it equally applies across a number of risk asset classes that produced stellar returns towards the end of 2012. We
February 04, 2013
Good help is hard to find: independent
Months of frustration spent looking to employ a senior financial planner could have some practice principals pining for their annual holiday, but for one independent operator, the experience has invoked the spirit of the early Contiki Tours. Last year, Professional Planner Online revealed the plight of Matthew Ross, an independent financial adviser with Roskow Independent
January 31, 2013
Drennan new CIO at Mosaic Portfolio Advisers
The ASX-listed financial planning and funds management group, SFG Australia (SFG), has appointed the former head of investments for Zurich, Matt Drennan, as chief investment officer at Mosaic Portfolio Advisers. Mosaic is the portfolio construction and management arm of the SFG business, and produces investment products for SFG’s financial planning network, which includes Shadforth, Outlook
January 31, 2013
The outlook for Australian equities in 2013
The current market recovery is starting to resemble those that followed the long bear markets after the 1987 crash and the mid-1970s oil crisis when, some five years after the original correction, the market finally started to recover. This could be coincidence or the problems were starting to be dealt with after five years –
January 29, 2013
