Top 5 reasons for portfolio diversification

18 March 201919 March 2019 Chris Brycki

Diversification tips

I spoke on Your Money’s Investing 101 segment this week with the ASX’s Rory Cunningham to share my top 5 tips on why you should diversify your investment portfolio. Here they are:

1. Diversification gives you a smoother ride

Diversification is about spreading your money across different investments to enjoy a smoother ride. It serves as a cushion to protect your basket when a few eggs crack.

Diversification is important for anyone who doesn’t want to experience stomach churning ups and downs in their portfolio which is what happens when you only own a few shares.

The theory on how to use diversification was pioneered by Harry Markwitz in his paper “Portfolio Selection” published in 1952.

He showed that by owning shares in different industries and countries as well as other asset classes like bonds, you could get a smoother portfolio return without sacrificing return. Markowitz later won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work.
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What Labor’s proposed changes to franking credits mean

13 March 201914 March 2019 Chris Brycki

Everything you need to know about Labor’s proposed franking credit changes including how the changes could actually be good news for self funded retirees, SMSFs and the Australian economy.

One of the more controversial policies being recommended by the Federal Opposition in the lead up to the 2019 election is the removal of cash refunds for franking credits or dividend imputation credits.
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What returns have Stockspot clients earned?

1 March 201917 March 2019 Chris Brycki

Why some numbers matter more than others when you invest. We show which figures you should focus on and how Stockspot clients have done.

A couple of questions we often get asked by clients are:
‘How do my returns compare to others?’, and
‘What are the average returns earned by people like me?’.

Both are great questions and ones you should ask any investment adviser – more on that later. Let’s start with the basics on how Stockspot and others calculate returns.

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What are the best Global Share ETFs?

12 February 201917 February 2019 Chris Brycki

International share ETFs and U.S. share ETFs have had a huge increase in popularity for individual and SMSF investors in Australia.

As of 2019 there is over $17 billion invested in ETFs tracking global shares on the ASX. The largest and most popular track either a broad global index or the U.S. share market which is considered to be a proxy for global shares.

Each year we compare all 175+ ETFs in our ETF Report. Here we road test 12 popular Global share ETFs, comparing them across 5 factors, as well as summarising our favourites.
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Performance update – January 2019

4 February 201912 February 2019 Chris Brycki

2018 was a down year for investment returns across the board.

In US dollar terms, every major asset class apart from cash fell in value. That’s an even larger percentage of assets falling than the financial crisis in 2008! If you didn’t lose money as an investor in 2018, you’ve done very well.

The Australian dollar also got hit, falling 9.7% during the year. The falling dollar had a silver lining since it helped to boost returns for Australians investing overseas who had not hedged the currency.
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How I’d fix default super

14 January 201914 January 2019 Chris Brycki

If you’re someone who has selected your own super fund or set up a Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF), it might surprise you to find out that you’re an exception.

The majority of Aussies just take the fund they’re ‘defaulted’ into by their employer when they start work. These default super funds make up about 80% of all super accounts.

Most people in default super take little to no interest in their fund and they tend not to switch regardless of performance.

Because of this, default super funds don’t face the kind of price-based competition they would in other industries where customers demand value-for-money.
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Market predictions for 2019

8 January 201914 January 2019 Chris Brycki

The start of the new year is a popular time to make predictions about the market.

A lineup of experts will confidently tell you which shares to buy, if property is going up or down, whether the RBA will raise or cut rates, where the Aussie dollar is heading and if the stock market will crash.

Expert market forecasts have been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. I’ve never understood why they’re so popular (to give or receive) in light of how terrible forecasters track records are.
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What I learnt at the ASX Investor Day

14 December 201817 December 2018 Chris Brycki

I recently presented at the ASX Investor Day in Sydney, which I was thrilled to be asked to do since the ASX has featured heavily in my life.

First winning the ASX share game as a school student, then as the work experience kid and more recently as the CEO of Stockspot.

The topic the ASX gave me was: ‘Why invest on the ASX? How to pick the best investments’.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to present to 300+ eager investors and hopefully provide some useful tips to help make them better investors.
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Savings accounts are broken. So we decided to fix them

10 December 20183 January 2019 Chris Brycki

Tired of low interest rates on your savings?

So are we! That’s why we have created a better way to save money.

What is Stockspot Savings?

Stockspot Savings is an alternative to a high-interest savings account and ideal for cash savings you don’t want to invest. Rather than deposit money with a bank, Stockspot Savings will place your money into a high interest cash ETF. You get access to the best interest rates from the big banks without having to lock away your savings for months or years.
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Index investing succeeds in down markets too

23 November 201829 November 2018 Chris Brycki

Whenever markets fall, funds who use active stock picking or market timing strategies fire up their sales engines. Their pitch? That if you put your trust in their active strategy you won’t have to withstand the down periods that come with a ‘buy and hold’ strategy.

It’s a tempting story! Why go through the emotional roller-coaster of down markets if that part of investing is optional…
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Dunning-Kruger Effect: You know less than you think

19 November 201814 December 2018 Chris Brycki

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

The ‘Dunning-Kruger Effect’ is a cognitive bias which causes people of low ability within a field to have the illusion of skill and mistakenly assess their own ability as greater than it is.
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How to build an awesome investment portfolio

9 November 20189 November 2018 Chris Brycki

Clients sometimes ask us how we built the Stockspot portfolios, and why we selected 5 assets to invest in rather than 2, 3 or 10!

It comes down to the purpose of the Stockspot portfolios which is to maximise returns for each level of risk. Five assets allows us to give clients the best possible combination of returns, risk and costs.

To do this we leverage the benefits of diversification. Diversification simply means that by combining investments with different characteristics you can improve the quality of returns in your portfolio.

Quality of returns is measured by how much risk you need to take to earn a certain return. Since all investing involves taking some risk, the aim is to minimise the risk you need to take to earn the return you want. Diversification across assets enables you to take less risk to earn better returns.
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How to pick the best super fund

31 October 201831 October 2018 Chris Brycki

Stockspot’s Fat Cat Funds Report 2018 has once again found that fees make all the difference when it comes to your retirement savings. If your super funds charges you high fees, chances are you could be $250,000 worse off when you retire.

The Fat Cat Funds report looks at the performance of Australia’s largest superannuation funds. It names the funds that take advantage of Australians unwittingly paying away their retirement funds in superannuation fees.
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Bank rip-offs that won’t exist in 2020

26 October 201830 October 2018 Chris Brycki

When you take a step back, you may be surprised at how many bank fees, charges and costs we take for granted.

As a result of their cosy oligopoly, Australian banks have become the most profitable in the world, collecting $31.5 billion in profit this year. That’s after bank CEOs take $30 million a year in salaries and bonuses. But have you ever wondered why some fees exist at all – or what could be done to get rid of them?
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How to make the most of market dips

12 October 201823 October 2018 Chris Brycki Leave a comment

Financial markets can be quite scary at times. Headlines like ‘$50 billion wiped from the ASX’ can make it difficult to stay the course and remain invested when shares are going up and down like a yo-yo.

First-time investors tend to sell when the market falls out of a fear it will continue to go down and never return.

Research shows people feel the pain of losses twice as much than the enjoyment of profits. It’s our fight-or-flight response, the amygdala part of our brain kicking into overdrive to avoid the potential for loss.

People don’t like uncertainty and will avoid risks if possible.
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The Paradox of Skill: Why active funds disappoint every year

5 October 201823 October 2018 Chris Brycki

The latest data for active fund returns to mid 2018 doesn’t bode well for traditional active fund managers.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) SPIVA report for mid 2018 reveals that over 80% of Australian fund managers have underperformed the index over 15 years. The results are even worse in the US where 92% have delivered lower returns than the S&P 500 index.
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The best ETFs in a boom year

12 September 201812 September 2018 Chris Brycki

This article originally appeared in the ASX September 2018 newsletter.

Phenomenal ETF market growth of 70% over the past two years in Australia.

The growth of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continues to be the biggest trend in asset management of recent decades. Their prominence has grown as the sector has matured and investors seek better diversification for their portfolios.
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Three investment blogs worth reading

5 September 20186 September 2018 Chris Brycki

There’s no shortage of investment websites and blogs out there.

Here are 3 of the best investment blogs that I love learning from each week and that I think should be high on every investors reading list.
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Top five things to do before you invest

30 August 201831 August 2018 Chris Brycki

Investing is the best way to create long-term wealth and financial independence.

If you’re just starting out no doubt you’ve figured out that it can be confusing at first. There are lots of decisions to make so it’s important to make sure you’re prepared to give yourself the greatest chance of success.

With this in mind, here’s the five things we think everyone should consider before investing.
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How super funds play the ratings game (Part 1)

31 July 20181 August 2018 Chris Brycki

It’s that time of the year again when super funds release their annual performance. This blog looks at how the funds twist their performance relative to other funds and indexing. The funds’ PR is parroted by the ratings agencies whose tables and good news story are accepted at face value by the media.

Firstly, we look at how funds manipulate their inclusion into the categories set by the ratings agencies.
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Do you own your investments?

10 July 201831 July 2018 Chris Brycki

Something you may not put a lot of thought into when you invest is how those investments are held. Sometimes investments aren’t legally owned by you but instead owned by another entity on your behalf. That may sound like a minor difference however there can be significant consequences when it comes to security, tax, costs and the portability of your portfolio.

Broadly investments can be held in 2 ways:

Directly by you on your own HIN (Holder Identification Number)
Indirectly via a commingled fund or omnibus account structure

Historically stock brokers used a direct ownership model, so each of their clients had their own individual investment account or HIN and all investments were registered on the ASX’s computer system called CHESS (Clearing House Electronic Subregistry System). If the stock broker went bust it didn’t impact the end client because their investments were safely separated.
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What are the best Australian share ETFs?

3 July 20183 July 2018 Chris Brycki

Australian share ETFs continue to gain in popularity. As of May 2018 there is over $10 billion invested ETFs tracking Australian shares.

Each year we compare all 175+ ETFs in our Australian ETF Report. Here we road test 5 popular Australian share ETFs, comparing them across 6 factors:

Size
Costs
Slippage
Liquidity
Returns
Track record

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Rent or Buy? We do the sums

28 June 201819 March 2019 Chris Brycki

“Rent money is dead money” or so the saying goes. It’s a popular myth perpetuated by plenty of people working in the real estate industry. However as at June 2018 capital city house prices experienced their first annual fall in 6 years, dropping -1.1%. With house prices cooling, renting is starting to look attractive again.

Like any financial decision, there are costs and benefits associated with buying or renting. Here we discuss some of the important pros and cons to consider when deciding whether to rent or buy and look at which one has really worked out better over the long term in Australia.
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People & perspectives: Matt Levy, Paralympic gold medalist

21 June 2018 Chris Brycki

Some people have unthinkable depths of grit, determination and talent. They achieve amazing feats while the rest of us shake our heads in wonder. Matt Levy is one of these people. Matt is a 6 time Paralympic swimming medallist, his most recent win saw him return home with the gold medal from the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

His days start at 4.30AM, consist of 5km of swim training, then he goes to his day job, or in his words “train, eat, sleep, repeat”.

Stockspot was lucky to talk to Matt about the incredible challenges he faced in early life and how he balances a professional sports career, charity work and managing his finances.
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When is a good time to invest?

13 June 201819 March 2019 Chris Brycki

One of the main challenges investors face is ‘when is the right time to invest?’

As an investor your aim is to make money, so naturally it’s tempting to try and time your entry into the market and wait for prices to fall to grab a bargain. The problem is investment markets can move quickly and you’re just as likely to miss out on making good returns by waiting to invest.

The truth is markets can go up, down and sideways over the short-term and it’s almost impossible to pick the top or bottom (even for professionals). However if you’re completely out of the market you have no way to benefit from the gradual increase in prices over time.
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Author: Chris Brycki