John Symond reveals his personal investment portfolio
Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond is laughing all the way to the Commonwealth Bank. Symond, who took on the big banks in the cut throat home lending space, recently sold a 33 per cent stake in Aussie to the CBA for what is believed to be about $100 million. The sale leaves a sweet…
The Travails of Larry Williams, Futures Trader
In May 2006 Larry Williams was arrested in Sydney by federal police. Up until recently Williams was confined to the Sydney CBD awaiting possible extradition to the US on tax evasion charges. He can now go anywhere in Australia, so long as he posts his movements to police. Karin Derkley speaks to him from his…
A story of a home-based trader – Vimal Mehta
Commercial pilot Vimal Mehta often has hours to kill in hotel rooms during stopovers between flights. But he deliberately chooses not to spend this time trading. The 36-year old says that while this may seem like the ideal opportunity to work the market he finds that the situation puts too much pressure on him to…
How Australia’s wealthiest investors are navigating the financial crisis
High net worth individuals are cashed up, debt free and waiting for opportunities. But they are in no hurry to rush back into buying equities, say advisers to people with millions to invest. Paul Huggins, director of RetireInvest, Melbourne has clients telling him it is a good time to go on holiday and not look…
10 Aussie stocks with the highest debt
What a difference a year makes when it comes to attitudes towards corporate gearing. Companies once lauded for having ‘ballsy borrowings’ are now as popular as Scrooge himself on Christmas morning. The global credit squeeze brought to front and centre the stress debt can place a company under. And the 180-degree about-face on what now…
CFD fever hits Singapore
Peter Oxlade, senior vice president and head of CFDs & Securities for Man Financial, is under no illusions: establishing a viable presence in Singapore’s fledgling CFD market – and the wider Asian region – will be no walk in park. But he’s convinced, after slightly less than a year in Singapore, it’s a walk a…
Efficient Market Hypothesis
For some share enthusiasts, the EMH is not a nice thought. The theory argues that careful share selection based on myriad factors, including analysing company financials, reading news and analyst opinions or charting historical share prices is pointless. The concept of analysing whether a company is under-or over-valued relative to its current market price is…
Inflation
Inflation is the true enemy of building wealth and investors should put measures in place to protect against inflation’s corrosive downside. “Inflation” can be defined as “the state of affairs when the value of money falls and the prices of goods and services increase, other things being equal”. Interest rates move up and down from…
Net Tangible Assets (NTA)
The “net tangible asset backing per ordinary share” figure, often abbreviated “NTA”, is one possible measure of the worth of a share, although its usefulness is subject to some reservations. It can be compared to the market value of the share. In an ongoing company the various measures related to income tend to be more…
SPI
The Share Price Index Futures (SPI), which tracks the S&P/ASX 200 Index, is the most popular futures contract. To buy the SPI, a trader would outlay a deposit per SPI contract, which is a small percentage of the value of the contract. The value of the SPI 200 futures contract is $25 times the level…
