Funds Focus

The cream always rises to the top

Looking around Australia’s major cities, one would be forgiven for thinking the Financial Crisis was a figment of the imagination. Although there was talk about a tightening of the belt in 2009, the much anticipated drop in sales and shops closing on every street seems to have passed us by.

There are pockets of our economy which are struggling but thanks in part to the large mine in our backyard, Australia has managed to escape relatively unscathed. The

A planner’s perspective

Hybrid Securities
As income investors wait patiently for a return to normal cash rates, the hybrid security market is offering attractive returns which have not been seen for some time

Hybrids are a $24 billion market on the ASX with over 60% assigned an ‘A’ credit rating. With the banks responsible for 55% of the issues, investments in these securities can offer investors an attractive income stream.
Greater Returns
The GFC has

Looking for a sure thing
I was recently discussing one of the capital protected products we had featured with someone who had worked as a trader for a number of years and had managed his 80 year old mother’s portfolio for some time. He had successfully sold her previous managed fund investments just before the large share market falls, was now very bullish about the markets and felt that now was a good time to reinvest that capital. As he was someone working in the financial industry, my