Insights

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) come in many shapes and sizes. There are active and passive, ones that just look at a single commodity or currency, index ones, ones that follow a basket of selected stocks and even ones that have leverage built in.

Due to the fancy footwork deployed by some fund managers, their financial results can't always be accepted at face value, and as an investor you need to be aware of what tricks they use to embellish their performance.

Back-to-school costs can take the shine off those first few weeks of term. Parents often have mixed emotions around their kids returning to school. Along with a much anticipated (by parents) return to routine, the end of the holidays brings the inevitable round of education costs.

If there's one goal to set yourself for 2021, it's to take a good look at the rate you're paying on your home loan.

Tips for getting started and beware of investment products that look too good to be true.

All investing comes with risk, so what are the risks to be mindful of when it comes to ETFs?

Here are a few simple rules to make sure you transact at the right price when buying your next ETF

Hear from our Chairman Paul Clitheroe as he summarises learnings from 2020 and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The past 12 months have reinforced some basic rules of investing.

Just like any other listed stock you might own, one of the primary goals of an exchange traded fund (ETF) is to increase in value over time. It's not rocket science, you know your stocks are performing well if the price they're trading at continues to exceed the price you originally bought them for.

As discussed in the first three chapters of the investor psychology series, the human psyche and investment structures do not always align, as our social norms and cognitive processing can lead to 'clashes of theory' and the misuse of investment information.

The world of money is always interesting and ever-changing. In 2020 alone, we've seen the cash rate fall to a previously unthinkable 0.1%, home loan rates below 2% are now commonplace, and in the space of less than 12 months Australian shares have experienced their worst ever fall and also their highest 1-month gain in almost two decades.

InvestSMART Capped Fee Portfolio review Monthly Musings November - Smashing Records

How our perceptions of ageing have changed. Forget 50 being the new 40, it could be that 80 is the new 60 - and this has profound implications for our retirement savings.

ETFs pay dividends just like any other dividend-paying stocks, and like individual stocks, these dividends are typically in the form of cash payouts, or issuance of further shares (aka as dividend reinvestment plan).

Heuristics in cognitive psychology can be defined as shortcutting or the use of rule of thumb decision making, especially under conditions of uncertainty.