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
For those clients who have an investment portfolio managed by Summerhill Financial Services, a change is being made to the Dimensional Emerging Markets Trust, which is summarised below. (more…)
After spending last year fretting about the damage to economic growth from the global financial crisis, many investors are now worrying that policymakers’ medicine may prove too effective.
The fear is that the stimulus injected by central banks, via interest rate cuts, and by governments, via additional spending and tax reductions, will create an intractable inflationary spiral that will force interest rates sharply higher and erode the value of fixed income assets. (more…)
Standard and Poor’s (S&P) index versus active funds scorecard for the investment market has showed that benchmarks have outperformed a majority of actively managed funds and bonds over five years.
The ASX200 index has outperformed two-thirds of active Australian equity funds over the last five years, while the ASX200 has outperformed approximately half of active funds over the year to date.
The survey also found that the ASX Small Ordinaries index outperformed more than half of all active small-cap funds in the last five years, and 60 per cent of the actively managed funds over the last year.
The benchmark index for global equity outperformed more than 76 per cent of active global funds over five years.
The UBS composite bond index has outperformed more than 97 per cent of actively managed bond funds over the last five years, but only 25 per cent within the last year.
“Australian equity funds operate within a very efficient and heavily researched segment of the market, which is intensified by the fact that the Australian market is very top-heavy, with the top 20 stocks comprising 67 per cent of the market index,” said director of S&P index services Simon Karaban.
Source: Money Management
What is “equity risk premium”, or ERP, and is it enough? In this article we’ll explore both these questions, plus have a look at three factors that create confusion around the ERP concept, and why the prospective return differential that shares offer over bonds today is far more attractive than it was at the height of the last bull market in 2007. (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…)
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…)
The failure of traditionally active investing approaches is gaining increasing attention in the mainstream media. This comprehensive feature from The Christchurch Press in New Zealand cites the success several local advisors have had by implementing the Fama/French research in their own businesses.
Click here for the full article.
The market downturn has again dispelled the myth that active managers outperform in bear markets, according to updated research by Standard & Poor’s. The S&P study found active funds trailed their benchmarks over the last five years across major equity and fixed interest asset classes.
Read the full article from The Sydney Morning Herald here.
History has shown that dollar-cost averaging as an investment strategy in shares - particularly during bear markets - results in portfolios that are worth more. How? Well, there are a couple of tips you need to follow. (more…)
It’s spring in the northern hemisphere and the changed conditions in global markets are attracting much attention. While no-one knows whether these “green shoots” will last, they are a good reminder of how quickly the investment climate can change. (more…)