News

Tim Townsend, like many in the 1990s, fell into the world of finance, but fast forward through a 25-year career and Townsend highlights the decision to invest in himself, founding Townsend Cobain, with business partner Rod Cobain, as his best. Beginning his career at the Credit Union in Victoria when they had just developed a…

With interest rates at all-time lows, and term deposits lucky to be paying 0.5%, investors have simply been forced to look for alternative income-generating investments. The share market has obliged, but not only in the form of normal equity dividends – but in newer listed income-bearing investments. One of the most recent offerings came last…

Platinum Asset Management’s lead portfolio manager on its $5.2 billion Asia-ex Japan fund, Joseph Lai, resigned suddenly over the Christmas period and has left the firm. He had signed off, however, on a stellar year for the group’s top-performing strategy. Lai took over running the Asia ex-Japan managed fund (and the $492 million listed version)…

Due to its open-source ethos, bitcoin has travelled an unconventional growth path. For starters, no-one seems to know who invented it (rumoured to be a Sydneysider, possible pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto) but what we know is when it will all end – in 104 years when the last bitcoin will be mined. Putting its start behind…

The good news for IOOF (ASX: IFL) following the battering it took from shareholders last month is that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has approved its MLC takeover. The bad news is that the remaining class action against it has been funded. The ACCC said on Monday it would not oppose IOOF’s $1.4…

The Kiwi counterpart of US online direct investment platform Robinhood is sounding out the Australian market for possible expansion. Brooke Roberts, co-founder of the Wellington-based Sharesies, said the firm was recruiting an Australian country manager. “We are looking at launching Sharesies in Australia,” she said. “But at the moment we’re working on a product that…

Datt Capital Absolute Return Fund ranked as No.1 Australian Equity Fund by Fund Monitors The Datt Capital Absolute Return Fund has been recognised as the No. 1 Australian Equity Fund as at the end of September 2020; evaluated over a rolling 12-month period using Fund Monitors risk adjusted model. On the announcement, Fund Monitors noted…

By now, people know what impact investing is and according to RIAA, impact assets under management in Australia have grown to about $19B at the start of 2020; up 250% in the past 24 months. Those are decent numbers, but there’s every indication we’ve barely scratched the surface of impact investing’s potential. The growth is…

As is the trend this year, Melbourne-based Zenith Investment Partners held their annual Fund Manager of the Year awards online over the weekend. The session was hosted by John Nicoll, Head of Sales, and David Wright, CEO, both presenting remotely. In what was an incredibly difficult year for the finance industry, Wright stressed the important…

Investors are piling into COVID-hit international companies amid a share trading boom. According to ASIC’s analysis of trading volumes during the COVID period, share trading volumes among retail investors have doubled. With that in mind, international share trading has become a lot easier, but can still come at a substantial cost, with added tax implications,…

Not only is 2020 the marking of a new decade, but it potentially marks of a new paradigm of investing. The last 30 years shouldn’t have been that difficult for long-term investors and those using the traditional 40-60 balanced portfolio. The historic fall in interest rates that has occurred since the 1980s means that both…

Aussie fund manager gives Budget an ‘F’ for FAIL The head of the Australian wealth and superannuation manager Nucleus Wealth, Damien Klassen, has drawn a pointed analysis of the Morrison/Frydenberg budget strategy. “The budget misses the mark big time by focusing on the supply side of the economic equation when in fact the biggest issue…