Today we’ve witnessed a significant event and its real time impact on financial markets. Britain voting to leave the European Union. Despite a final week “Remain” rally that pushed up equities, commodities and the Australian dollar, someone was clearly reading the tea leaves the wrong way. Financial markets love certainty (Remain) while they hate uncertainty (Exit) and they certainly hate this outcome. However, this is just another bump (or dip) in the investing journey that will likely look remarkably benign when we look back on it in the years to come. This decade, still living with the lingering aftereffects of…

Technology has a way of turning today’s roosters into tomorrow’s feather dusters. Paying attention to once seemingly indestructible companies that have fallen over should serve as a reminder to investors that no one company can ever serve their investment needs. Kodak, Polaroid and Blockbuster Video are well known examples of companies crushed by digital alternatives. And the Fortune 500 list (largest US companies by total revenue) shows the changing nature of business. Only 12% of companies on the list in 1955 remain and back in 1955 you wouldn’t have found an Ebay, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Symantec or Facebook. Of…

It’s arguable that raging house prices in some areas across the country have helped to widen wealth disparity between the generations. Young people are acutely feeling their inability to get into the housing market. While those older and well established have seen their equity increase beyond even their own belief – to the point where if they were out of the market they couldn’t afford to buy the home they live in. For some parties it may be a feeling of resentment, while for others it may be a feeling of guilt – parents gifting house deposits or going guarantor…

It seems like a long time since February 10. If you can’t remember it, here are two reminders from the Australian Financial Review: ASX slides into bear territory; 4600 looms ASX succumbs to bear market contagion That was the most recent market bottom. This week the AFR was printing very different headlines: Rally in US brings out the ASX ‘s raging bulls ASX records gains for a sixth straight week If your outlook is long term, or your focus is income, both sets of headlines are equally meaningless. What happens in February 2016 or May 2016 should be regarded as…

Last month in another country, a man we’ll call Jim, watched one of his beloved investments tumble 16% in the space of as many days. Jim’s investment is (or was) ‘beloved’ because he’d attached all sorts of historical and emotional significance to it. The company, Jim told his adviser, was going to change the world. Jim had independently booked his ticket to enjoy the ride with them by investing several hundred thousand dollars of his and his wife’s money. That company was Apple. Not such a bad outfit, but every company can be prone to downgrades, disappointments and eventually failing…