Thinking about getting financial advice but haven’t taken the first step? If so, you’re not alone. According to an Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) report[i] on Australian attitudes to financial advice, 41 per cent of survey participants who’d intended to seek advice, still hadn’t gone ahead. If that sounds like you, there’s probably a […]
HIN and SRN – What’s the difference? (and why it helps to know if you sell shares)
First, let me preface this by saying that including ‘HIN’ and ‘SRN’ in your blog post does not make for a catchy title, but you’d be surprised how many people ask me about these. So if you don’t know what they are, or how they’re different, then read on. Purchasing shares through an online broker […]
Conflicted advice rears its ugly head … again
In yet another cautionary tale to consumers, financial advisory firm United Global Capital (UGC) and its associated Global Capital Property Fund (GCPF) were shut down by the Federal Court in Victoria recently due to serious issues in their operations. UGC’s business model involved several practices that created a clear conflict of interest, with the firm […]
Then and now: comparing apples with Apple
They say that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. It was also a good time to have bought shares in many of the big companies that now dominate today’s market. If only we knew. For some of us, 20 years ago may not seem that long ago. Many of us […]
What are ETFs and how do they work?
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give investors a cost-effective avenue for capturing the returns of an asset class, an index, or a commodity. While the name is fairly new, ETFs are simply managed funds which can be bought and sold through a stockbroker, mirroring the process of trading shares. How ETFs Operate An ETF is just a […]