Why is it bad to buy an option close to its expiry date?
I think that it is worth taking a quick step back and first discussing how we value options. If you were to dissect an option’s value into its components then the result would be two parts: Intrinsic Value and Time Value. Intrinsic Value is the option’s value if exercised on any given day, defined as…
10 top dividend paying stocks
When the sharemarket falls by 20 per cent or more – as it has done since November – one of the major comforts to an investor is the dividend income from shares. It comes from a company’s earnings, so it’s not affected by the share price. So the dividends being paid this year – usually…
Why everyone loves penny dreadful stocks
Penny dreadfuls – stocks that sell for a handful of cents yet give big percentage gains – have a long history in Australia. Since the beginnings of the stock exchange, resources explorers have traditionally filled this role, often hitting paydirt with a drilling hole, resulting in a share price surge. More recently, technology stocks and…
Professional trader makes big bucks from home
After spending eight years in Asia as NAB’s head of trading Doug Goldsmith returned to Australia in 2005 to assist in re-building the bank’s local and global treasury operations following the institution’s $360 million illegal trading and foreign exchange debacle. Six months later Goldsmith put his extensive experience across all products to the test and…
Broker Recommendations – 6 to BUY, 6 to SELL and 6 to HOLD
Michael Heffernan AUSTOCK BUY RECOMMENDATIONS Origin Energy (ORG) An energy retailer, but also a power generator, gas producer and explorer. It’s been an excellent sharemarket performer since splitting from Boral in 1991. It offers a bright future after selling half its coal seam gas assets for US$5 billion to US based ConocoPhillips in a joint…
Gerry Harvey reveals his personal investment portfolio
Billionaire Gerry Harvey is licking his financial wounds because of the sharemarket crash. He’s a big equity holder and quickly calculates that Harvey Norman’s retreating share price during the past 12 months has stripped more than a $1 billion from his immense wealth. But we’ll chat more about that later. Harvey is chairman of an…