Alchemy has been around for centuries. It is based on the notion of being able to convert base metals into gold. For centuries, man has

In 2008, during the height of the GFC, people were worried whether their money was safe in the banks. As a result, the Australian Government

In the past, portfolio theory was fairly simple. To work out how much you should allocate to growth-based assets, you simply used the following formula:

These days whenever I watch sport, I can’t help wondering whether the competitors that win are using performance-enhancing drugs. I think ever since the Lance

These days formulating monetary policy, which is set by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and other central reserve banks such as the US Federal

Back in 1987, Warren Buffet made the following statement in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders: ‘Our basic principle is that if you want to shoot rare, fast-moving elephants, you should always carry a loaded gun’

In this 23rd Episode of AJ Radio we recap our recent attendance of Vidcon – the largest multi-genre online video conference held in LA. Hear Alex talk about where this exciting landscape is heading and some investment opportunities you might want to look at.

For some time I have been thinking about the following equation and asking myself, does it hold true? Increase business size = lost authenticity

Members of superannuation funds aren’t entitled to vote on who the directors are. In fact, as a member, do you have a say on anything to do with your superannuation company? Who runs it; how it is run; the direction in the organisation is headed?

Centrelink’s changes to the Age Pension assets test limit in January 2017 cut off access to the Age Pension for many retirees, when the maximum value of assets owned to obtain the age pension was reduced.

The media has been a flurry recently about Labor’s proposed changes to franking credits. There has been public outrage over this, and the sad reality is that this policy will have little impact on the uber-rich; those most affected will likely be the same group of people who lost their age pension a few years back when the asset test limit was changed. You can start to understand why retirees are fed up.

I recently reviewed Media Super’s Annual Report after reading a media article that reported them purchasing a 429-year-old violin as an investment. I thought this was an odd investment for a regulated super fund. Was this a responsible decision given the opaque market of collectables and the high transactional costs associated with such investments? And, how did this get past APRA? It triggered me to investigate Media Super’s investment policy.

There have recently been many articles in the media regarding changing property prices. Unlike shares, which can be accurately tracked day-to-day, property is historically an opaque market with less visibility on price movements. However, over the past few years computers with sophisticated programming have been able to track property markets more accurately and provide an increasing level of transparency.

I often like to read ‘peculiar’ books that give me some insights into different ways of thinking. I recently came across a book review in The Monocle Minute. It inspired me to buy the book:

It seems like a simple enough question. If you had a balance investment option in your super, would you choose a 7% or 12% return? Yet, before you decide it’s a no-brainer, it’s worth probing a little deeper into what could cause this 5% variance, as the reporting returns are not standardised.

Around $2.5 billion has reportedly flowed into the industry super fund Hostplus in recent times. This influx of funds has largely been on the back of media commentators promoting Hostplus, in particular its Hostplus Index Balanced Fund.

In this 20th Episode of AJ Radio we challenge some paradigms of investing and retirement. As the financial world is no always logical, we raise some interesting questions when thinking of the amount of funding for your retirement and if higher returns for investments are better.

Moving a large amount of money between countries can be a nerve-wracking process. Often people use their local bank for this type of transaction. The main benefits of doing so are that it is a relatively simple process, and they are dealing with a financial institution they feel they can trust.

In this 19th Episode of AJ Radio we crack open a segment of the investment market that was once thought perhaps to be a trivial area. Now, with a projected 2.3 billion people participating in this area of the market and a forecasted spend of $137.9 billion in 2018, this area of the market is no longer a niche player. This episode takes a closer look at what is transpiring in this exciting video game market and the opportunities it presents for investors.

When it comes to retirement most people believe more is best, but is this always the case? Have the Centrelink changes that came into effect last year distorted reality; has the $350k super fund become the new $900k – without all the extra effort of squirrelling away so much for retirement?