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Edition 23

  •   19 July 2013
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Welcome from Chris Cuffe

Many thanks to the hundreds of readers who completed our Reader Survey last week. The feedback was very positive and encouraging and significantly improves our understanding of what you want from Cuffelinks. The highlight was the value you place on our independence and expert opinions, and we will continue to refine our product.

We also realise one of the compulsory questions was confusing and some readers may have baulked at it, so we have fixed the problem and will leave the Survey open for a few more days. There is a link at the bottom of the page for those who were unable to complete the Survey.

This week, Melinda Howes explores how the changing membership structure of super funds focusses attention on leadership and consensus management styles. Jeroen Buwalda and Maree Pallisco look at the application of technology to financial advice, especially intra-fund.

Dominic McCormick warns that the recent poor price performance of gold has resulted in many people giving up on the precious metal, and this is often a time when more robust buying support surfaces. Ashley Owen gives us a quick romp through the history of bank defaults due to massive losses on government debt, especially in Italy, showing that few lessons have been learned from the painful path of history. Government debt default, including Australia in 1932, is surprisingly common.

We conclude with an extract from an online discussion on how banks are missing out on cross-sell opportunities in superannuation, and five business lessons Sir Richard Branson has taken from his nation’s recent sporting success. What happened to the days when we beat the Poms at everything?

Chris

Latest posts from Cuffelinks, 19 Jul 2013, Edition 23

  • Super funds must balance leadership and consensus Melinda Howes
  • Is gold broken? Dominic McCormick
  • Technology advances key to improving delivery of intra-fund advice Jeroen Buwalda and Maree Pallisco
  • A short history lesson on banks and government debt Ashley Owen
  • Banks and their low super cross-sell rates LinkedIn Discussion extract
  • Sir Richard Branson gives 5 business lessons learnt from sporting success Graham Hand

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  •   19 July 2013
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