Insights

Looking for a portfolio manager with an incentive to perform well? Warryn Robertson's parents are investors in his fund.

Calculating pension payments for a homeowning couple with assets inside and outside of super.

This week we look at Suncorp, ALS, ResMed, Henderson Group and GUD Holdings.

Options expiry, non-bank large caps and the difference between LICs and managed funds.

With little in the way of macro drivers to influence investor outlook overnight, today's market is likely to be about whether or not last week's buying momentum can be sustained. Market action suggests buyers may need a catalyst to change their outlook before taking the overall market significantly higher at this stage.

Telstra appear to be playing a game of favourites with the launch of Telstra TV. Telstra has announced the latest addition to Australia's growing list of video-on-demand streaming services. The company has teamed up with American provider Roku, rebranding the Roku 2 device as Telstra TV.

Peer-to-peer kingpin Matt Symons from SocietyOne is in the studio and Simon Dumaresq will be updating on his 'small caps' portfolio.

Most analysts acknowledge four broad tailwinds, but the question is whether they are structural or cyclical.

Australia's largest owner of car dealership businesses has increased its earnings and its dividends.

WAM Research, a LIC from a well-known manager, has paid a steady, increasing stream of dividends.

The group is benefiting from consolidation in the diagnostic imaging sector, with more growth opportunities to come.

Although there are risks, stable dividends and cash flows make the childcare centre operator attractive.

Several more of our international stocks have reported better than expected results.

International markets on Friday bore the hallmarks of a low growth, low inflation world economic environment. Traders bought bonds and sold commodities in response to a weaker than expected read in the US employment cost index for the 2nd quarter. The employment cost index failed to reveal any promise of much awaited wages growth as high underemployment rates provide little incentive for employers to pay more.

Aussie shares were poised for a day of gains and local stocks not disappoint. The largest capped stocks found support in early trade and lead the market up 0.9% across the trading session, erasing most of the losses the local bourse faced over the course of selling last week.

With relatively neutral leads from offshore equity markets overnight, the direction of the ASX 200 index today is likely to be influenced by resource stocks. Major mining and energy stocks have enjoyed a good recovery over the past couple of days on the back of relief that commodity prices have stopped falling. However, the commodity price rally stalled last night leaving open the question of whether strong buying support for resource stocks can be sustained today.