Superannuation is generally not a thing that’s discussed by university students as we are usually in the throes of self-induced debt, caused by an excessive consumption of food, alcohol and shopping. However, it is very important to have a superannuation account set up, so that future you has a safety net to fall back onto; especially once you take into consideration the compounding effect of the funds.
There are some pretty devastating facts about the environmental impact the human race has had in on the planet in the past hundred or so years, and if your Facebook feed is anything like mine, those clickbait links serve as a constant reminder about it. There is only so much an individual can do by putting our plastic bottles in the recycling bin but Green Bonds could be a way to do that little bit more while earning a bit more on the side.
Cryptocurrencies such a Bitcoin and Ethereum have featured prominently in financial news in recent years, creating large divides in investing communities as their value continues to increase astronomically with no signs that it will slow down in the near future.
Rather than a physical currency like the AUD or USD, cryptocurrencies are exclusively digital currencies that use peer-to-peer software to track movements of the currency between parties. Rather than the ledger of historical transactions (blockchains) being stored in a centralized location such as a bank, they are stored by each individual user – virtually every user has a complete record of every transaction made. This massive network allows transactions to be verified by millions of users simultaneously to prevent the unauthorized creation of currencies and prevent double spending.
According to a recent study, buying a Hermès Birkin handbag could be your best bet for long term investment. The study revealed that the iconic Birkin bag far outperformed both the S&P 500 and the price of gold over the last 35 years, since the first production of these bags.
Across the 35 year period, the S&P 500 returned a real return average of 8.65% with a peak of 37.2% in 1995 and an average low of -36.55% in 2008. At the same time, gold offered an average annual return of 1.9%, equal to a real return average of -1.5%. Rising by 14.2% over the same period, the Hermès bag never fluctuated downwards once. Instead, it consistently increased and escalated by as much as 25% in 2001.
Perhaps for our generation it’s hard to comprehend, but bear markets and crashes are a reality, and historically they have occurred every 7-10 years or so. Some of the world’s greatest investors have been around to predict and/or profit off several crashes and bear markets that have occurred around the world, including George Soros, Jim Rogers, Ray Dalio, Stan Druckenmiller and Warren Buffett.
There are a few driving forces these investors have seen over and over again in helping them predict that a crash or bear market was coming. While obviously it’s easy looking in retrospect, (say the GFC or the Japanese Asset Bubble of the 1980s/1990s) you can use these lessons from some of the world’s greatest investors to help you determine when a crash may manifest and to help protect your portfolio.
Since it was announced, the National Broadband Network (NBN) has caused a lot of worry and anxiety among telecom operators and investors alike.
Australian telcos are facing an uphill battle against the National Broadband Network (NBN). Large players such as Telstra, Optus, Vocus and TPG are experiencing great pressure from the network resulting in decreasing margins across the board. The NBN is a fixed wireless and satellite infrastructure of optic-fibre, replacing the now obsolete copper network, providing Australians with the fastest and most reliable internet in the nation’s history.
“The investor’s chief problem and even his worst enemy is likely to be himself” Benjamin Graham.
One of the biggest hurdles for people reaching their investment goals is controlling their emotions. Being able to distance emotions from the investment process is one of the characteristics that makes an investor successful.
Medical marijuana has been given the green light by the government, and what seems like, investors too. In the past few months, it has been legal in Australia to cultivate, manufacture and import medicinal cannabis and many people are trying to cash in on the crop. This has seen money pouring in with eye watering results. The most recent and notorious example is a company called Stem Cell United [ASX:SCU], a $3million company specializing in Chinese medicine plant extraction. Earlier in March, this stock was trading at 1 cent per share. In intraday trading on 15th March, it hit $1.08.
