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Edition 15

  •   17 May 2013
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Welcome from Chris Cuffe

Our interview with Nobel Laureate Harry Markowitz continues with his insights into providing online retail advice. When someone like Markowitz decides to establish an online advice solution rather than lend his name to one of the big established brands, it’s worth knowing why. Next week, we hear a similar story from best-selling author Burton Malkiel.

For budget week, we move beyond the chatter and point-scoring around this year’s numbers and take a more strategic look at the impact of budget deficits. Don Stammer makes the case for balancing the budget over an economic cycle, while Ashley Owen takes an even longer perspective. He looks into the history of debt and deficits since Federation, compares Liberal and Labor governments, and makes conclusions about whether deficits are good or bad for stockmarket returns. It’s a more meaningful analysis than worrying about one year’s numbers, but I do wonder with an ageing population straining the health system, lower resource prices and major new expenditure programmes, will we ever see a surplus again?

We often hear debate about how much money a person needs in retirement, but David Bell spent much of 2011 researching an equally important but largely ignored issue – the variability of the retirement outcome. It’s all very well telling a client that they can expect 60% of their pre-retirement expenditure when they retire, but what if there’s a 5% chance it will be only 38%? This is important research.
 
And finally, unable to resist the temptation, Graham Hand draws on his lifetime of watching Manchester United and meeting Sir Alex Ferguson to give us some leadership lessons from the most successful football manager of all time. Personally, I think Graham finally found a half-decent reason to write about his favourite team, but there’s no doubting Sir Alex’s amazing, unrepeatable success.

Chris

Latest posts from Cuffelinks, 17 May 2013, Edition 15

  • The Harry Markowitz Interview, Part 2: Retail financial advice Graham Hand
  • How much variability exists in retirement outcomes? David Bell
  • The consequences of sustained budget deficits Don Stammer
  • Government budgets and the impact on the stockmarket Ashley Owen
  • Leadership lessons from Sir Alex Ferguson Graham Hand

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  •   17 May 2013
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