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Thursday, 23 September 2021
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Income tax, franking outside super, downgrade blame, Montgomery on tech, Marks on indexing, depreciation, blockchain, access yield, China politics.
Labor’s policy on franking credits denies some taxpayers the benefit of taxes paid on their behalf, but a franking credit is money withheld by the ATO until the shareholder’s tax return is completed, just like a PAYG taxpayer.
Exogenous factors like macro changes and weather can affect a company’s short-term profits. Management often blames uncontrollable factors for earnings downgrades but rarely owns up to a fortuitous tailwind.
Central banks have created surplus capital looking for a home, and Tesla is a classic example of an unprofitable tech company that has benefited. It survives on a dream rather than the ability to make cars.
Howard Marks' memos to his clients are always worth reading, and when a highly successful manager acknowledges the strengths of index investing, it's worth checking what he says.
In 2017, significant changes were made to property depreciation legislation. Residential property investors and owners should become familiar with how the changes will affect their current and future assets.
Blockchain is a powerful technology. The most successful companies will be those that have the ability to harness its power. Three groundbreaking examples are global payments, data protection and verifying land titles.
The wholesale market, accessible for retail investors via managed funds (including ETFs and LICs) offers better cash yields than bank term deposits but at a higher risk. This risk can be managed via a diversified portfolio .
Consumers are now having a bigger impact on China’s economic growth to the benefit of multinationals, but foreign companies can face boycotts when pursuing Chinese consumers.
The RBA Governor says rising house prices are due to "the design of our taxation and social security systems". The OECD says "the prolonged boom in house prices has inflated the wealth of many pensioners without impacting their pension eligibility." What's your view?
It's a remarkable statistic. In any year since 1875, if you had invested in the Australian stock index, turned away and come back eight years later, your average return would be 120% with no negative periods.
Never stand between Australian households and an uncapped government programme with $3 billion in ‘free money’ to build or renovate their homes. But excess supply is coming with an absence of net migration.
Picking macro trends is difficult. What may seem logical and compelling one minute may completely change a few months later. There are better rewards from focussing on identifying the best companies at good prices.
Critics of franking credits are missing the main point. The taxable income of shareholders/taxpayers must also include the company tax previously paid to the ATO before the dividend was distributed. It is fair.
Wet streets cause rain. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect is a name created by writer Michael Crichton after he realised that everything he read or heard in the media was wrong when he had direct personal knowledge or expertise on the subject. He surmised that everything else is probably wrong as well, and financial markets are no exception.