Eureka Correspondence

Looking at charts

I find the articles by Percy Allan on timing the market interesting.  He often refers to particular charts such as 200 or 50 day moving averages.  Are there websites freely available where I can view these and other interesting charts?

Charles Scourfield

Editor's response: Thanks for your letter. Yahoo Finance has a charts function that shows the 50 and 200 day moving averages. After searching for a stock or index, there is a “basic technical analysis” option that includes these features.

Medibank Private

Hello, wondering on your thoughts on the upcoming share release of Medibank Private.

Kevin Cooper

Editor's response: Thanks for your letter. Scott Francis has shared some thoughts today (How the Medibank float works against the private investor). Bob Gottliebsen covered the Medibank Private share offer last week (Medibank IPO first impressions: Low yielding and not cheap). Alan Kohler also offered some thoughts in a recent weekend briefing note, which is here. 

Gough Whitlam

I was very disappointed to read Alan's piece singing the praises of Gough Whitlam. Sure, many social reforms were made but at what cost? It was not for the social reforms that Whitlam was kicked out with the worst loss in history. It was because of his party's terrible economic management which seems to be a Labor party trait. History shows that when Labor gets in they go gung ho on social matters but always (except once I seem to remember) leave an economic mess and a large deficit for the LNP to clean up.

Jo Martin

Bond yields

In Alan's weekend briefing on October 25, I think he correctly identified the plunge in bond yields, linked to a bear squeeze, as the major driver of stock prices' recovery. But he went on to say “the bears, as one, went up to the cashier's window, collected their winnings and went home”. Some bulls would have cashed in their winnings, but that emotional capitulation was sobbing, not cackling.

Jody Trouncer

Nursing homes

I was talking with my Uncle Bill yesterday. He recently had to put his wife (Aunty Gwen) into a nursing home. She went in at high level care, just before June 30, so they were lucky in so much as they didn't have to pay an accommodation bond. Because they had saved their money, they were self-funded retirees and had to pay the maximum monthly fees. These totalled $2500 per month. A couple of days ago he went in to visit Aunty Gwen and pay his monthly fee and was told that it had gone up to over $5000 per month and he owed $11,000 in back fees to the 1st July. That's $60,000 per annum. Uncle Bill just turned 90 and after he got stuck into the CEO of the nursing home, nearly keeled over. They have got a quid but like a lot of oldies it's in a Commonwealth Bank book probably getting no percent interest.

I just did my own Mum's approximate costings if she had to "go in” and it would be about $5000 per month also. She owns her home and has an income of $700 per week which is generated from Commonwealth Bank and Telstra shares. We would have to sell the family home to afford the nursing home fees. Beware.

Mark