Financial Planning, Investment & Insurance Solutions

  • No Country for Old Stock Pickers

    No Country for Old Stock Pickers

    Towards the end of the film “No Country for Old Men”, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell played by Tommy Lee Jones, goes to visit his wheelchair bound cousin, Ellis, played by Barry Corbin. Ellis informs Sheriff Bell he’s been recently corresponding with his wife by letter. “Loretta tells me you’re quittin’. How come’re you doin’ that? “I don’t know. I feel overmatched.” Replies Sheriff Bell. Sheriff Bell is despondent. He’s seen the aftermath of a violent chase across Texas for a stolen $2 million and believes things have changed for the worse. Customs, beliefs, and behaviours of people aren’t what they…

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  • 2021 End of Year Wrap

    2021 End of Year Wrap

    It’s that time of year again. We’d once again like to thank all of you for the support and engagement in another challenging year. We assumed we may have been able to break away from Covid this year, but it wasn’t to be the case. It almost seems like 2021 has been an extension of 2020! Thankfully in Tasmania we have had better fortune than most throughout 2021. Freedom from Covid throughout most of the year, along with freedom of movement within the state. We can only hope the newest variant of Covid is less severe, will be blunted by…

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  • Magellan Challenges Active Adviser Beliefs

    Magellan Challenges Active Adviser Beliefs

    Click video to listen to story. If you didn’t know, Hamish Douglass is probably Australia’s best known fund manager and is the figurehead of one of the most recognisable funds management businesses in the country: Magellan Financial Group. For years his flagship global fund has outperformed the market based on his convictions. It has afforded him rockstar status, a cult like following with investors, and the ability to get his message almost unfiltered into the media as many of Australia’s finance journalists have acted as stenographers when reporting on his thoughts and comments. Until recently. Magellan’s stellar performance has evaporated…

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  • Lessons From Transitory Inflation

    Lessons From Transitory Inflation

    Toward the end of October, Australia’s bond market received a surprise. For most of the first half of the year the Reserve Bank of Australia had been buying up 3 year dated bonds in an attempt to suppress yields and keep them around the 0.1% level. If bond prices are bid up, the yields fall and vice versa. This had been successful until June, when the RBA suddenly started pulling back from the market and the 3-year yields, which play a role in fixed mortgage rates, moved sharply from the 0.1% to 0.4%. Yields again trended downward until September when…

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  • Dopamine Nation

    Dopamine Nation

    Addictions can be the bane of our modern existence. Getting hooked on something can be quite easy and not readily acknowledged. The range of addictions can stretch from the extreme such as narcotics, to the very simple such as checking the news on a phone. They can be a mild irritant, an imagined way to temporarily blow off steam, or a life altering and ongoing disaster many struggle to escape from. What plays a role in forming addictions? Dopamine. Psychiatrist and Stanford University professor Anna Lembke explores the role dopamine plays in our lives in her new book, Dopamine Nation: Finding…

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