“Have you seen the price of gold?” “What about gold?” “Is there a reason you don’t invest in gold? These are common but also intermittent questions. An investment that has recently increased in value will receive attention. Its proponents will talk about it. The media will cover it. People want to know more about it. This waxes and wanes. Middling performance isn’t so exciting. It doesn’t attract attention. People don’t want to know. Gold is up right now. People want to know. Unlike various other investments that emerge, we don’t dispute gold’s legitimate status as an asset or a commodity.…

You might remember it. Though it seems so long ago right now. There was a big kerfuffle. It was about franking credit cash refunds. In short, former Labor leader Bill Shorten was going to do away with them. In response, Australia’s self-funded retirees made it their mission to do away with Bill Shorten. Retirees: 1. Bill Shorten: 0. Less than a year on. There has been fire. There has been pandemic. Bill Shorten might be feeling better about losing that election. What about those retirees? Highly doubtful they want Mr Shorten back, but he did present them with an opportunity.…

It’s no secret interest rates are low. Have ten grand in the bank? If you’re lucky with a ‘high interest’ account, at the end of the year you’ll have made $200. That’s before the tax man and inflation come calling. For those with a small amount who can’t get their head around the concept of risk, it’s dire straits. We’re also told there are rough waters if you’ve got a few million. This from a recent article in The Australian (behind a paywall) by a financial adviser. I recently met a new client — a divorcee with two teenage sons…

It was an unceremonious occurrence. A few minutes into trading on the third of February 2020 the ASX released a list of companies whose securities had been suspended from trading for an unacceptable period of time. It was removing their listings from the exchange. Why? Various reasons, but most had gone bust. Many were now shells. Devoid of any assets or direction forward. On occasion, dormant shells might be picked up by brokers or corporate advisers. Recapitalised, with a new project dropped in and respruiked to the gullible masses. A market listing can be valuable in some circles, but the…