Posts by Gerard Haskew
Market Wrap
The recovery rally marches on Global shares rose 3.3% and 0.6% in hedged and unhedged terms, respectively. Emerging markets continued to rally (up 4.6%) driven by stronger economic data in China with business surveys such as the Caixin PMI pointing to stronger improvement while June quarter GDP showed a sharp bounce back into positive territory.…
Read MoreMarket volatility and your portfolio
Take a long-term viewInvestment results tend to vary more widely when you just consider the returns over a period of one year.Ten-year returns are generally much more stable and a lot more predictable as can be seen in the chart below. Impact of reacting to short-term noiseVolatility is part of investing, and whilst we can avoid it,…
Read MoreOvercoming the impact of Coronavirus – An economic perspective
How is world faring against the Coronavirus (a.k.a COVID-19)? Since COVID-19 was first detected in China, transmission across the rest of the world has been substantial, as have been the number of deaths. There have been over 3.5 million confirmed cases and over 247,000 deaths. However overall growth rates have slowed globally. This raises confidence…
Read MoreThinking of accessing your super early?
Here are some of the pros and cons To lessen the financial impacts of the Coronavirus situation, the Government is allowing people who are eligible to access up to $20,000 (in two lump sums) of their super for a limited time. Super is designed to provide for you in retirement, but this limited access legislation…
Read MoreThe Government’s JobKeeper Payment Explained
On 30 March 2020, the Federal Government announced the introduction of the JobKeeper Payment. The payment is a wage subsidy paid by the Government to businesses significantly impacted by the Coronavirus. This will allow employers to continue paying their employees whether they are able to work or not. The Government will provide $1,500 per fortnight…
Read MoreThe Government’s stimulus package in response to the Coronavirus
In response to the economic impact of the Coronavirus, the Government has announced a number of initiatives to help individuals and businesses at this uncertain time. The changes include accessing some of your super if you’re in financial stress, tax concessions for small businesses and changes to social security benefits. Below is an overview of…
Read MoreSMSF regulatory update
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO), as self-managed super funds (SMSFs) regulator, has recently announced it will contact approximately 17,700 SMSF trustees in relation to their investment strategy. This is due to growing concerns that some SMSFs are invested in an overly concentrated manner, typically with real property. The ATO statement can be found here. The ATO…
Read MoreProtect Your Income
If you’re employed or self‑employed, income protection insurance can replace up to 75% of your pre-tax income if you are unable to work due to illness or injury. Why protect your income? If you are unable to work for an extended period due to illness or injury, you could run down your savings very quickly and…
Read MoreThe out of pocket burden
• Whilst Medicare is universal, and can cover hospital, medical and pharmaceutical benefits, more than 11 million Australians choose to ‘supplement’ their healthcare funding with private hospital cover and around 13 million had private ancillary cover2 • Notwithstanding the interaction between Medicare and private cover, the individual is often left with a ‘gap’ between the…
Read MoreBudget Summary
The announcements in this update are proposals unless stated otherwise. These proposals need to successfully pass through Parliament before becoming law and may be subject to change during this process. What you need to know – Quick Summary The Budget is forecast to return to surplus in 2019/20 with a positive balance of $2.2bn The economic…
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