Preparing for a Market Downturn

Today's article provides another view on preparing for a market downturn.

https://www.ricewarner.com/preparing-for-a-market-downturn/

Concentration Risk in Portfolios

Where underlying funds make the same/similar investments then you have more Concentration Risk than you may think.

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b19mz7cc095bhf/concentration-risk-in-long-duration-portfolios-manager-diversification-does-not-necessarily-mean-issuer-diversification

Banks take 1,726 days to realise they've broken the law: ASIC

According to ASIC banks are taking more than four and a half years to identify significant breaches.

So what is going wrong?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-25/asic-reveals-how-long-banks-take-to-report-breaches/10302894?section=business

Westpac is ditching high risk property investors

Westpac is ditching high risk property investors.  This is interesting in that they originally provided these loans to the borrowers.
What would be the impact if the banks started doing this on all the home loans?

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/westpac-property-investment-loans-high-risk-2018-9

S&P lifts Australia's rating outlook

Australia's credit outlook has been upgraded from negative to stable by global agency Standard and Poor's for the first time in two years.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/s-and-p-lifts-australia-s-credit-rating-outlook-on-surplus-expectations-20180921-p50586.html

Cryptocurrency Scams

Cryptocurrency Scams - ASIC has recently shut down a few offers in this space.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-20/asic-warns-on-cryptocurrency-scams/10286528?section=business

Lobbying In Australia

Some insight into how big business deals with Government.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2018/sep/19/lobbying-in-australia-how-big-business-connects-to-government

Good news - bad news

There is so much conflict in business stories - either good or bad news - that it makes it difficult for investors.  2 examples are shown below.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/it-s-raining-money-why-you-shouldn-t-bet-against-wall-street-20180918-p504d1.html

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/we-don-t-have-any-strategy-to-deal-with-it-experts-warn-next-recession-could-rival-the-great-depression-20180917-p5046e.html

A brief history of the Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen has announced that they will end production of the Iconic Beetle in 2019.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/msolomon/2018/09/14/luxury-lineage-a-brief-history-of-the-volkswagen-beetle/

Ray Dalio

Some wisdom from Ray Dalio

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/hedge-fund-billionaire-spells-out-america-s-worst-nightmare-20180913-p503er.html?crpt=index

10 years after the GFC

10 years after the GFC.  A number of articles discuss activity at that time and some lessons.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-13/global-financial-crisis-guy-debelle-rba/10240948

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-13/gfc-government-wargamed-financial-disaster-scenarios/10238912?section=business

https://www.schroders.com/en/uk/private-investor/insights/markets/10-years-on-from-lehmans-collapse-seven-charts-to-consider/

https://www.ampcapital.com/au/en/insights-hub/articles/2018/September/lessons-from-the-GFC

Yield and Income

This article revisits thinking on what is yield and what is income.

https://www.morningstar.com.au/funds/article/why-yield-and-income-arent-the-same-thing/170291

Massive Global Debt still a major risk

10 years after GFC, the massive global debt levels still pose significant risks for markets.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-11/global-debt-looms-as-major-risk-ten-years-after-gfc-machin/10230538?section=business

Has finance been fixed?

The world has not learned the lessons of the financial crisis.

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/09/06/the-world-has-not-learned-the-lessons-of-the-financial-crisis

The Resistance against Trump

More commentary from an insider on the workings of the Trump administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Royal Commission Fallout may favour "not-for-profit" sector

There was always going to be some fallout from the Royal Commission, but this article really presses home what "not-for-profits" have been arguing for a long time - "that all profits go to members".   It is difficult to argue with the principle of this.

https://investmentmagazine.com.au/2018/09/you-cannot-serve-two-masters-scheerlinck/

Fear: Trump in the White House

An interesting view on Trump from some insiders will feature in a new book.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/04/politics/bob-woodward-book-donald-trump-fear/index.html

Royal Commission focus on APRA

With calls for more regulation of the "bad things" that financial institutions have done, the focus in this article is on the regulator, highlighting how they played their part with "feeble" regulation and enforcement.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-04/banking-royal-commission-embarassing-apra/10200028?section=business

Why the Euro failed

Some analysis of the risks of having a common currency.

https://qz.com/1377098/why-the-euro-failed/

The Eerie Calm of the US Stcck Market

Today's article takes a different look at the recent performance of the US Stock Market to highlight the relative low level of risk in the recent market and why we shouldn't get complacent about risk.

https://www.schroders.com/en/uk/private-investor/insights/markets/the-chart-that-highlights-the-eerie-calm-of-the-longest-us-bull-market/