Volume 2, Issue 1

Investment
WAI CHEN  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
Many everyday investors do not use options as part of their investment strategy; it is viewed as either too risky or too complex. There are numerous advantages in using options strategically in a portfolio. Mainly, they can be used to generate an income ... Read more
STEWART BRENTNALL  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
After more than three years of exceptional returns from Australian equities, financial advisers and the research houses and fund managers that serve them are asking - 'is it time to switch more capital back to international equities?' Anecdotal ... Read more
ROBERT JAEGER  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
Everybody's talking about hedge funds, but a lot of what they're saying doesn't make much sense. Some of the nonsense emanates from within the hedge fund community, where marketing people sometimes make exaggerated claims about the strategies ... Read more
RICK DI MASCIO  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
The days of investors and planners relying on fund managers' track records to judge their performance are over. Inalytics introduces a new approach to measuring their investment skills. Skill is at the heart of all active investment processes, yet ... Read more
Applied Financial Planning
LIVINIA MOORE  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
Your business depends on the trusting relationship you and your staff have with your clients. So when do you know your staff are ready to take a hands-on role with your clients and honour that trust? How do you make sure new staff can take a 'prospect' ... Read more
SYLVIA VORHAUSER-SMITH  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
As a practice manager imagine all your conversations with your planners were positive. No criticism, no negativity, no weaknesses. What if you only focused on what was right, not what was wrong? What would our personal and professional development plans ... Read more
RICK DI CRISTOFORO  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
Traditionally, financial planning has ignored the client's most basic asset - the family home and associated mortgage. The family home and mortgage debt are the 'elephants in the corner' of the financial plan - a looming, powerful presence ... Read more
Superannuation
Graeme Colley
GRAEME COLLEY  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
Until 11 May 2004 it was possible for all types of superannuation funds to provide defined benefit pensions to members. At the time the definition of a defined benefit pension was any pension except for one determined by reference to life insurance ... Read more
KATE ANDERSON  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
The choice to set up one's own selfmanaged superannuation fund (SMSF) is becoming an increasingly popular one for many Australians in the lead up to the Federal government's reforms to simplify and streamline superannuation from 1 July 2007. ... Read more
MICHAEL FIELDING  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
Clearing houses are not just for corporate super funds, they are also very important for advisers who need super funds to be more efficient. Clearing exchanges would be something you would expect to be as far from the advisers "concern" as ... Read more
GILES CRAIG  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
One often thinks of challenges and opportunities as opposites, but according to the latest research from AMP Capital Investors and Investment Trends, the growing self-managed super funds (SMSFs) market appear to be offering up both to accountants. Over ... Read more
Retirement
KATE MCKINNA  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
The substitution of employment income, which has been salary sacrificed into super, with pension income, is a strategy that has received significant attention following the introduction of the transition to retirement rules. In this article, we explore ... Read more
BENEDICT DAVIES  |  MONDAY, 1 JAN 2007
Changes announced in last year's Budget have removed some of the complications of pension planning. The Assets Test taper will be halved, increasing the number of people who are eligible for a part-pension, while the partial assets test exemption ... Read more