It’s that time of year again, when harried finance editors ask reporters to call investment professionals and cobble together top predictions for the coming year. These are fun to write. But for readers, they’re more entertaining a year later. Here we take a look at what some of the ‘experts’ were predicting last year. Read more
With global stock markets in an apparently never-ending state of high volatility even some seasoned investors are beginning to wonder whether it’s worth continuing to invest in shares. Certainly people looking to invest new money long term are asking us whether now is the right time to invest.
In order to test the theory that a Balanced Portfolio of investments should perform better than cash over the long term, we have compared the returns over ten years from a simulated ‘Balanced Portfolio’ (with 60% in shares and property, 40% in bonds) against returns from cash. Looking at past returns cannot predict the future, but it can give us an indication of the likely characteristics of future returns. Read more
The current renewed volatility in financial markets is reviving unwelcome feelings among many investors—feelings of anxiety, fear and a sense of powerlessness. These are completely natural responses. Acting on those emotions, though, can end up doing us more harm than good. Read more
Share prices slumped around the world last Monday (18 July 2011), but shares of Apple Inc. shrugged off worries about a Greek government bond default and record gold prices and surged to an all-time high of $373.80. As the company goes from strength to strength and the billions pile up on the balance sheet, it’s worth recalling how uninspiring the future for the company looked not so long ago. Read more
Have you ever been to a dinner party where one guest strikes terror into everyone else with their pet theory about global financial catastrophe? What do you say in those circumstances? Here’s an example. Read more
It seems that there will always be those that think there is such a thing as a ‘free lunch’ – and not just those whom we might consider ‘unsophisticated investors’. The list of those who invested with Bernie Madoff attests to that.
An Australian conman has been jailed for 13 years recently over a money management scam that offered clients annual returns of 50 per cent or more by investing in commodities and currencies. Why does this keep happening?
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