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Hugh Dive

Bank reporting season scorecard: May 2018

Our regular check on the 'star' performances from the Australian banks' May 2018 reporting season in the face of low credit growth, increased regulatory scrutiny and the sales of insurance and wealth management divisions.

Short selling is harder than you think

The rapid price fall of Blue Sky following a poor report from a foreign seller makes it look as if short selling is easy, but there are many risks and details to consider along the way.

Banks reporting season Scorecard 2017

A look at the 'star' performances from the Australian banks' financial results for 2017 and how they have handled non-bank competition, government levies and business divestments.

Why instos don’t invest in residential housing

Institutional investors have little interest in investing in residential property due to the low yields and favourable taxation concessions offered to owner occupiers and retail investors.

Who pays if your apartment building catches fire?

The Grenfell Tower disaster highlighted dangers posed by faulty building materials. It’s usually property owners that bear the majority of the costs for correcting ill-considered policy or builders’ mistakes.

Behind the headline profit numbers

There's more to a company's profitability than the headline dollar figure. Measures such as return on equity, return on assets and profit margin can provide a much better and balanced perspective.

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Ranking three common retirement strategies

The defining challenge of retirement isn't just about building wealth, it's about converting your lifetime savings into sustainable income. A holistic understanding of different strategies can improve long-term outcomes.

Economy

Was life really better in the good old days?

Are we worse off than previous generations? Lately, there seems to be a heightened level of angst that economic conditions are getting harder and that the two-party political system (and maybe democracy too) is failing voters.

Retirement

Australia has saved $4.5 trillion for retirement. Here's what matters more

Most Australians approaching retirement can tell you the exact dollar value of their super account. But success depends on more than a sizeable balance. Here's four key questions to ask yourself at the start of the financial year. 

Who gains in an AI-supercharged economy?

AI is already reshaping the economy, but companies building transformative technologies rarely capture the greatest long-term value. Instead, those benefits accrue to the users. We may well see this pattern reproduced. 

Taxation

Div 296's million-dollar reset worth $25,000

The 'cost base reset' for the new super tax is being sold as protection for pre-July gains. A worked example shows $1M of protection is worth about $25,000, and the real deadline has not passed.

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The forecasting fix that Wall Street missed

Asking whether markets are overpriced may be the wrong question. New research suggests that traditional valuation metrics used to forecast returns may have been misread. Here are five takeaways for investors.

Investment strategies

Should a fund manager invest their own money differently?

Investors often like the idea that fund managers should invest client money exactly as they invest their own. But reality is more complicated. Unique circumstances make a different approach rational and, at times, beneficial.

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