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Thursday, 28 October 2021
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'Sophisticated' investors can be offered securities without the usual disclosure requirements given to everyday investors, but far more people now qualify than was ever intended. Many are far from sophisticated.
We expect portfolio managers to invest in their own funds and executives to own shares in their companies so they have 'skin in the game'. Should government leaders have more investing and business experience?
Immersed in the business and finance worlds at an early age, Hetty Green became one of the most successful investors of all time. Her story shows that the best advice is often timeless.
The ability to buy and sell cheaply and quickly in small parcels is both the biggest drawback and benefit of shares. But it encourages people who should not go near the market to use it as a casino.
Anyone can do their own personal investing, but what makes the skill required different from other professions? It's not easy even for the experts to consistently beat the market.
Many of Australia's bank directors lack crucial skills in technology, operations and HR as part of a broader shortage of experience that is as important in dodging scandals as in business success.
Financial adviser education, training and legislating ethical standards will help improve 'best interests' practices, but what about adviser experience? This important quality is near impossible to regulate.
Notwithstanding the wide variety of fund managers and fund structures vying for the investor dollar, some questions need to be asked of all of them. They help us determine the quality of the fund and the manager.
A reader responded with detailed comments on the need for board members and the Chair to have relevant expertise in the company's industry. Please join the debate.
Important retirement planning lessons benefit from actual experience, given that life does not follow a predictable pattern and many people can’t work forever. Planning is vital but so is making adjustments.
Everyone can be a naive investor at times, even the professionals. Outside of a sphere of expertise, the quality of investment decisions can suffer. Try to avoid being the 'patsy' in a transaction.
Depending on your own situation, 60 might be the new 50 or the new 70. When it comes to making decisions about retirement, aged-based rules might not be as useful as once thought.
We tend to forget that house prices often fall. Direct lending controls are more effective than rate rises because macroprudential limits affect the volume of money for housing leaving business rates untouched.
The survey drew a fantastic 2,000 responses with over 1,000 comments and polar opposite views on what is good policy. Do most people believe the home should be in the age pension asset test, and what do they say?
Any policy decision needs to recognise who is affected by a change. It pays to check the data on who pays taxes, who owns assets and who earns the income to ensure an equitable and efficient outcome.
With articles on the pensions assets test read about 40,000 times, 3,500 survey responses and thousands of comments, there was a lot of great reader participation. A few comments added extra insights.
It is hard to think of any area of widespread public concern where the same policies have been pursued for so long, in the face of such incontrovertible evidence that they have failed to achieve their objectives.
There are reasons to believe inflation will stay under control, and although we may see a slowing in the global economy, two companies should benefit from the themes of 'Stable Compounders' and 'Structural Winners'.