Oliver's Insights - Shares hit a speed bump......
Where to from here....
Read More

Mark Dutton 'market recovery - where to next'
Doomsday has been avoided. Not only is the market recovery well underway, it is actually following a rather 'normal' recovery pattern.
Read More

Vanguard - Exchange Traded Fund
Read More

Oliver's insights 'Australian house prices on the up again - is it sustainable?'
It seem that Australian house prices have defied fears of big declines in the wake of sharp falls in US and UK house prices. My expectation was for national capital city average house prices to fall 10% or so this year.
Read More

Oliver's insights 'Super funds and two years in a row of negative returns'
The key driver of returns for an investment portfolio is the asset classes in which its invested. The most common diversified superannuation funds have 70% of their funds invested in growth assets (mostly shares and property).
Read More

Oliver's Insights - Revisiting the worry list for investors. Where to from here....
It seems that there are still plenty of things for investors

to worry about: a double dip in the global economy;

Read More

Key superannuation rates and thresholds
Some new limits and thresholds for the 2010/11 financial year.
Read More

Wills Estates Update
In this update, we discuss the tax odd spots on pre and post-CGT assets, the importance of Advance Care Directives and the ways they may be given. We also reveal one of our recent cases where we helped our clients challenge a will made on a Testator’s death bed.
Read More

An election year Budget
Despite Government claims to the contrary, and talk of fiscal restraint, this has many of the traditional hallmarks of an election year Budget.
Read More

Mark Dutton Point of View - How much does Australia rely on China?
China’s growth story seems never ending. It has recorded average growth of 10 per cent each year over the past 29 years – an achievement which has been very beneficial for Australia.
Read More

When fear comes to town
In this Point of View, AXA’s Chief Investment Officer Mark Dutton notes that investor risk appetite has recently been dominating the markets. Investment strategies based on ‘fundamentals’ will need different conditions to deliver good returns.
Read More

Is Australia's Economic Pulse Weakening?
A run of recent economic statistics implies that the Australian economy is slowing, but this could be a trap for the unwary. In this Point of View, AXA's Chief Investment Officer Mark Dutton suggests that the most recent economic growth figures should be interpreted with caution and that further interest rate rises may still be on the agenda for 2011.
Read More

Why is it important to have a regular Home Loan Health Check?
Just because you've spent a long time making sure you have the right mortgage, it doesn't mean it will always be right one for you. This is why it is important to have a regular home loan health check to see if refinancing your mortgage would suit you.
Read More

Oliver's insights 'Review of 2009 and outlook for 2010'
At the start of 2009, fear of a complete meltdown was rife. There was doubt as to whether the massive and unrelenting stimulus and financial rescue efforts put in place around the world would work and many were talking of a re-run of the Great Depression.
Read More

Oliver's insights 'Is the cyclical recovery in shares over?
It seem ironic that just when the US economy is starting to grow & governments are revising up their growth forecasts, share markets have got the wobbles again. But after 50% plus gains since March lows, shares markets have fallen over the past two weeks or so on the back of the renewed worries about the strength and durability of the economic recovery, notably in the US.
Read More

Oliver's insights 'Australian versus Global shares'
The relative success of Australia in navigating the global financial crisis is now widely recognised. In fact it follows several episodes where Australia seems to have escaped Houdini-like from a perilous situation - it also sailed smoothly through both the Asian crisis  of the late 1990s and the tech wreck earlier this decade.
Read More

Oliver's insights 'Lehman Brothers' demise one year on'
It has been 12 months since US investment bank Lehman Brothers failed and set off a roller coaster ride for the global economy. Money markets and credit markets seize up; shares crashed taking US shares to their worst bear market since the 1930s and the Australian shares to their worst slump since 1973-74; global trade went into free falls a result of the slump in confidence and trade finance; and the world economy was knocked into its first contraction since the 1930s.
Read More

Superannuation can supersize the quality of your retirement
Australians are increasingly becoming aware of the merits of saving for retirement. An ageing population will put pressure on age pension funding. Improved life expectancy means we can expect to spend more time in retirement than ever before.
Read More

Does money really buy you happiness?
Well, that’s exactly what the recent AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ tried to find out. This report explored satisfaction levels amongst people living in Australia taking into account their employment, lifestyle, family life and relationships.
Read More

Renting the right choice for many - but not necessarily cheap
Around one third of the Australian population rents their home, and while a great deal of attention is focused on the affordability problems faced by home owners, tenants face their fair share of financial challenges too.
Read More