Investing 101

After decades in the industry there are a few key characteristics that tend to stand-out and are best to look out for when assessing these new and emerging opportunities.

Shanghai re-opened on Friday, as it tries to return to business after being in lockdown for two months. The city’s 25 million residents will be celebrating as restrictions are lifted allowing free movement, return to work and a sense of normality as officials claim to have the virus under control. Residents have grown extremely frustrated…

Over the last few months, there’s been a lot of coverage on cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin, and its status as “digital gold.” The reason it is often referred to as “digital gold” is that bitcoin was seen to have been able to provide a store of value like gold. An uncorrelated asset won’t fall when the…

The month of May was a volatile one around the world, but ultimately the US markets finished flat and the S&P/ASX200 only slightly lower. This despite one of the most challenging economic backdrops in multiple years and the growing threat of higher interest rates around the world. So, why are markets seemingly rallying? One of…

Given the dramatic falls seen in markets last week, Australia now presents a particularly compelling opportunity to capitalise on the rotation towards value. That’s the view put forward by Martin Currie, an active equities investment manager and part of the Franklin Templeton Group. Reece Birtles, Chief Investment Officer, Martin Currie Australia, says “extremely high valuations…

Investing icon Warren Buffett once said, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful”. And that’s exactly what he and his partner Charlie Munger have been doing. When markets were soaring over 2021, his holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) was a net seller for five consecutive quarters. But since…

Inflation concerns continue to rattle markets with the RBA raising rates by 25bps at their May meeting to 35bps. Uncertainty throughout the month saw April fall by 0.8 percent bringing the total year to date (end of April) returns of the ASX 300 Accumulation Index to +10.2 percent. Ausbil Investment Management have released their Equity…

Australian dividends are back to normal. After being battered and bruised during the pandemic, many high-flying dividends were either lowered or pulled as companies feared the worst and bunkered down to save money. High paying bank dividends were slashed after APRA forced lenders to limit payouts to no more than 50% of profits amid recession…

Last week’s market falls have fear and panic rising to their highest levels since the pandemic. The VIX Volatility index – the so-called “Fear Index” – hit 34.75 last Monday. At the start of the pandemic, the index hit 69.37 representing extreme volatility. During the GFC, the index hit 89.53.  There is, however, another “unconventional”…

To “Buy the Dip,” or not? There’s a lot of content out there on why this strategy is a bad one and how it traps investors. Done right however, this strategy is one of the few that can generate exponential returns.  Firstly, buying the dip is best done following a black swan event or total…

Leading global macro and geopolitical research house BCA has delivered another consensus challenging research piece this week. Writing in a paper titled ‘Solved: The Mystery of the Oil Price and Inflation Expectations’ challenges the current nature and ballooning expectations of inflation. Drawing on the work of Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman, the paper highlights the…

Bitcoin – Digital Gold This research primer is a guide to understanding Bitcoin. It explains why Bitcoin is important, how the technology for Bitcoin is likely to change over the next decade, how we can value Bitcoin, and what the main risks associated with investing in Bitcoin are. We believe Bitcoin presents the investment opportunity of…