Buying ‘Low’ and Selling ‘High’
To buy low and sell high is a common market timing strategy and an age-old mantra. Investors use methods to determine where stocks and markets are peaking or at low levels. Wait too long and you’ll experience the stock’s next low. If you are too quick you might miss out on further gains. Investing in […]
Are Certain Times of the Year Better to Start Investing?
This is a common question that you’ve probably been pondering if you are new to the investing world! Learning about patterns in market activity at different times of the year can help you in forming a big picture view of the market. While it is important to understand the news and events that occur in […]
Take advantage of this opportunity
Over the last few months you may have read my blogs on ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). In my view, ETFs have and will continue to revolutionise how everyday investors invest as more and more become aware of the huge advantages of index investing via ETFs. I’m not alone in this view. The Oracle of Omaha, […]
The new golden number. How much do you need to retire?
This was the front page of the AFR WEEKEND last weekend on 2nd May. Whilst this attention grabbing headline is a very important question, I think that a far more important question that needs to be asked by the vast majority of Australian investors is “How can I maximise my chances of reaching the “new […]
The Bulls & the Bears: Share Lingo Defined
Two of the most common terms describing our financial markets are “bullish” and “bearish.” If you’re a financial newbie, learning the lingo might seem daunting, but knowing these terms is actually a good starting point for understanding market trends over time, to help guide future investment decisions. So what is a bull or a bear […]
Take Your Super into your own hands! The Benefits of Self-Managing Super Funds
We’ve all heard the term self-managed super fund or SMSF. You may even be aware that this is the largest and fastest-growing super sector in Australia. But what is an SMSF? In simple terms, an SMSF provides a way to save for your retirement using a trust structure on behalf of the funds members. Unlike […]
Oil Search, ASX 200 & the Brazilian EWZ ETF
On Thursday 23 April, Gary Stone appeared on Peter Switzer’s TV Show on the Sky Business Channel 602. A 10 minute recording can be watched of this show where Gary and Peter discuss: The bullish local market attempt to breach 6000 for a fourth time. The attractiveness of the oversold Brazilian market and the opportunity […]
ETF performance and declining currency value
In last week’s post I looked at how the declining value of the Euro currency had negatively impacted on the value of the EWG ETF despite the fact that the underlying DAX Index had risen significantly since the middle of October last year. This week, we will look at the inverse situation, where a declining […]
DAX Index ETF and the effects of currency exposure
This week in our ongoing ETF series I want to take a look at the effects cross currency exposure can have on the performance of some ETFs. When we trade ‘domestic’ stocks on our own stock market (ASX for Australia) using our own currency (Aussie dollars), we are never exposed to currency movements as all […]
A simple way of getting exposure to the US Dollar
In my earlier postings on the use of ETFs by investors, I wrote that some of the major benefits of ETFs for the ordinary investor included the fact that they can be traded in your share trading account and as a result allow for portfolio diversification. This week I would like to look at this […]