Summerhill Financial Services, based in Australia, provides of financial planning services to help build, manage and protect your wealth.
Taken at the Pink Palace at Monaco in September 2004
With the change of just one word, the US Federal Reserve has called a quiet end to the recession, while in Australia, it seems to be all hands on “deal deck”.
Is it over? Are we there yet? Can we breathe a sigh of relief? According to economics commentator Alan Kohler of Business Spectator, “yes”. (more…)
Shares have just topped two consecutive years of big losses. Such a slide has resulted in a long “worry list” for shares and other growth-oriented assets – indebted consumers, inflation off the back of ballooning budget deficits and central banks pumping money, worrying demographic trends, and so on.
Some investors are pessimistic: the temptation being to assume just more of the same. However, as we’ll see, the “worry list” might not be so worrying after all. (more…)
At 6%, Australian house prices didn’t dip nearly as far as those in the USA and UK (32% and 19%, respectively) and already prices are rising again. So what happens now? And how does housing compare with other investments?
Despite fears of the big declines we’ve seen in the USA and UK, Australian house prices did not plunge dramatically - indeed the average drop remained well in single figures.
Yet, after “only” falling 6% from their early 2008 peak to the March quarter (a big enough drop for those trying to sell), house prices have begun to recovering, with Australian Bureau of Statistics’ data showing average gains of 4.2% in the June quarter, confirming rises already seen in private-sector surveys. (more…)
Helping people achieve their goals is what Summerhill Financial Services does. So it makes sense for us to support a community program with the same aim.
Western Chances helps talented and self-motivated young people in Melbourne’s western suburbs to realise their potential. Since 2003, it has awarded 1,430 scholarships to 599 young people, with an average value of $1,000 per grant each year. This means they’ve invested more than $1 million directly to young people. (more…)
The Australian media and much of the financial services industry has recently been eating up acres of newsprint and clogging the airwaves with endless discussion about whether or not the domestic economy is in recession. (more…)
This month’s Victorian state budget saw an increase to the First Home-Owner Grant, but the First Home-Owner Boost will be scrapped from January 2010. However, the First Home Bonus and will First Home-Owner Regional Bonus will continue. (more…)
One of our Summerhill clients was recently interviewed by Bob Maumill at 6PR in Perth.
In the attached interview (see audio link below), Ken Wright explains the history of a rather unique piece of WW1 history, the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ issued to the relatives deceased servicemen after WW1.
Every day it seems someone is seeking to compare the current financial crisis with the Great Depression of the 1930s. There’s no doubt these comparisons are an attention grabber. But how do today’s events really match up?
A search of a newspaper database reveals 30,000 mentions so far this year of the term ‘Great Depression’. References to dust bowls, long and winding dole queues and overflowing soup kitchens are getting a real workout.
You may have started to hear or may shortly hear the term ‘market capitulation’ after the end of this week’s share market falls around the world. But what is ‘market capitulation’? (more…)
ShareGift Australia helps investors tidy up their portfolios through donating small parcels of shares that would otherwise be difficult and expensive to trade.
More than 200,000 Australians hold small parcels of shares worth more than $80 million. Selling such small parcels can be costly and hard, but ShareGift Australia, a not-for-profit organisation, helps shareholders convert them to help a wide range of Australian charities.
The solution is simple, transparent and tax deductible. (more…)