05/05/15: Interest rates cut

A record low...

Today the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) finally decided to take the plunge and reduce the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.00%, a record low.

This wasn't a huge surprise as economists this morning were factoring in a 78% chance of a rate cut today. Interestingly, the RBA provided no outlook statement for interest rates going forward, so unless the Australian economy deteriorates significantly from here, this could be the last of the rate cuts. We'll see.

At the time of writing, the Australian share market was initially up 1.1%, however has since fallen into negative territory as the Australian dollar, surprisingly, went up in defiance of the interest rate cut.

While this is welcome news for borrowers, the decision will put more pressure on investors, particularly retirees, with significant cash/term deposit holdings - interest rates are low and will stay low for some time to come. If you need income, it's time to consider your options.

On a different matter, the Federal Budget will be announced next Tuesday night (12 May) and, as usual, the rumours have been flying fast and furious, from superannuation to negative gearing to pensions.

Our advice is to ignore the background noise. Typically, the lead up to every Federal Budget is a showcase of worse case scenarios and general fear mongering, coming from both side of politics, usually leading to fairly unspectacular, watered-down announcements on the night.

We'll distill the budget details into a simple, easy to understand report for our clients soon after budget night, once we've had a chance to thoroughly weigh-up the proposals on the table. More importantly, we'll contact you individually should there be anything important to discuss.

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial Clear Focus. Better Solutions.

10/04/15: Australian home prices and interest rates

Where are we headed?

The interplay between falling interest rates, the Australian dollar and housing demand is a complex one. While the RBA would dearly love to see our dollar fall, rising house prices, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, isn't part of the script. So what happens if, as widely expected, interest rates are cut again in the coming months? Another interesting read from AMP's Dr Shane Oliver.Read more here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial Clear Focus. Better Solutions.

02/04/15: What is 'risk' in investing?

Comments from Dr Shane Oliver...

An interesting, common sense article about investment risk from AMP's Dr Shane Oliver. An easy read. Click here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial Clear Focus. Better Solutions.

27/03/15: $20 oil could be a reality

…if this happens...

Watch video here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial Clear Focus. Better Solutions.

18/03/15: China: Boom or Bust?

…or something in between?

China's lack of transparency often sends the wrong signals to the rest of the world. We all know that China's economy has slowed, but is it heading towards a bust, or is this yet another false alarm? Read more here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial Clear Focus. Better Solutions.

13/03/15: Reasons to be optimistic on Eurozone equities

Not so bad…

Often written off as a 'basket case' region, Europe, particularly European shares have some serious growth potential. Does your super fund have exposure to Europe? Read more here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial Clear Focus. Better Solutions.

04/03/15: Australian economy still in the doldrums...

More help needed...

Through 2013-14 it seemed the Australian economy was starting to transition away from a reliance on mining investment to more broad based growth. Unfortunately this transition has wavered a bit recently and growth has remained below trend. Fortunately, the RBA has recognised the problem and resumed cutting interest rates. This note looks at the outlook for growth and rates and what it means for profits and investors. Read more here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial Clear View. Better Focus.

13/02/15: Shares surge to new highs

Planets aligned...

The share market rallied to a six-year high today due to a positive cocktail of factors, including Rio Tinto's massive shareholder returns, rising oil prices, decent company earnings, the potential for more interest rate cuts, and optimism over Greece and the Ukraine.

The market's strongest one day gain in six weeks sent the All Ordinaries and S&P/ASX200 indices to their highest levels since mid-2008.

At the close today, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 133.9 points, or 2.33%, to 5877.5. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 127.8 points, or 2.24%, to 5835.5.

Interestingly, the big miners led the gains, with BHP up 4.8% to $32.17 and Rio Tinto up 6.5% to $63.79 after announcing a $US2 billion share buyback, while RBA governor Glenn Steven's comments today that more than one further rate cut may be needed if unemployment continues to rise lifted the banks and Telstra as the desperate search for yield continues.

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial

28/01/15: Weather vs Climate

Are you informed or inundated?

Dimensional's Jim Parker illustrates the folly of trying to keep up with market sentiment based on the news of the day - a quick, easy to understand article worth reading. Read more here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial

12/01/15: 2015 Outlook

2 things you need to know…

The economic backdrop for the year ahead is likely to be fairly similar to what we saw in 2014; expect continued economic expansion but at a relatively modest and more uneven pace…

Globally • Growth is likely to remain around 3.5%; ranging from 1-1.5% in the Eurozone and Japan, 3.5% in the US and 7% in China. • Inflationary pressure is likely to remain fairly low and the overall monetary backdrop, despite a probable tightening by the US in the middle of the year, will remain fairly easy. We will likely see further easing in Europe, Japan and China.

For Australia • We should see growth move up to around 3% • Inflation is likely to remain benign • The Reserve Bank of Australia is projected to cut the cash rate to 2.25% early in the year with a 50% chance of another cut in the June quarter.

Rebalancing the economy As Australia transitions back to a more balanced economy, investors should try to avoid getting too gloomy. Yes, the mining sector is slowing down, but low interest rates and a falling Australian dollar is providing a great boost for non-mining parts of the Australian economy. For instance, we’re seeing a return to life for retail-related areas of the economy. Housing and construction has picked up, construction activity related to infrastructure continues, and the tourism, manufacturing and higher education sectors are showing signs of improvement.

Unemployment will eventually fall While economic growth is still not strong enough to lead to a fall in unemployment, we expect that the job market in 2015/16 will start to pick up as the stimulus to the economy from lower interest rates and the falling Australian dollar starts to feed through.

What does this mean for investors? It should mean another year of reasonable returns for diversified investors. But there are two key things that investors need to be mindful of: 1 What we saw in 2013 and in 2012 (returns of around 20%) out of shares is not sustainable over the long- term. Expect something more like 8-10%; 2 Every year experiences a lot of ‘noise’ and 2015 will be no different. This can be negative in terms of distracting you from your key investment strategy. Try and turn down the volume on the financial news and focus on maintaining a long-term investment strategy. (Dr Shane Oliver, AMP Capital)

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial

8/12/14: Lessons from 2014

Plus 3 themes to watch going forward…

This edition of AMP's Market Watch is a quick, simple read, but I think the most important reminder relates 'market seasonality' and the usual 'Santa Claus' share market rally phenomenon. Read Market Watch here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial

02/12/14: Interest rates remain on hold

Where to from here?

The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced the outcome of its monthly board meeting, deciding to leave the official cash rate on hold at 2.5 per cent.

NAB chief economist Alan Oster said he expected no change in the cash rate until the end of 2015.

"The RBA still believes that a period of stability in interest rates is the most prudent policy for the time being," Mr Oster said.

"While there are tentative signs of an improvement in household spending, they do not yet signal a sustained change in household and business conditions," he added. In the absence of any "major surprises", the cash rate is unlikely to rise until late 2015, Mr Oster said.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans noted that the November monetary policy meeting minutes were "slightly more dovish" than October's. "The growth outlook is a little less optimistic while there appears to be less hysteria around the potential risks associated with the housing market," Mr Evans said. "Indeed there is no implication of a substantial intervention by the authorities. The RBA is clearly in an ongoing ‘wait and see’ mode," he said.

It is also worth noting that in other quarters further interest rate cuts are being predicted for 2015. Deutsche Bank today went on the record predicting two 25 basis points cuts mid and later next year.

Our view at Westmount is that talk of interest rate cuts is premature at this point. Unless the Australian economy significantly deteriorates further, we expect the RBA to simply maintain current rates a little longer than previously expected. Of course, if rate cuts do occur, this would probably be a positive for shares and property, so it is critical to keep your portfolio diversified and flexible at all times.

Watch a full interest rate report from Macquarie here.

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial

01/12/14: China cuts interest rates

…and why it matters

The recent decision by the People's Bank of China to cut rates is a positive for commodities and Australian shares. Read more here

Rick Maggi Westmount Financial

30/10/14: Punchbowl removed: The end of 'Quantitative Easing'

End of an era… After a year long phasing down period, last night the US Federal Reserve finally ended its quantitative easing (QE) program, introduced at the height of the Global Financial Crisis back in 2008.

Since the worst days of the GFC, unemployment has fallen, consumers are spending again, businesses are investing and banks are lending. So after all is said and done, QE seems to have actually worked - the US economy is now well and truly into expansion mode and looking a lot stronger than Europe and Japan that have taken longer to adopt QE.

It would be fair to say that, while the US economy isn't exactly booming, the Fed Reserve's decision to take the economy off life-support was, at least for now, an important sign that the US may now be able to finally stand on its own two feet.

While the punch-bowl may have been removed from the table, the music continues to play. Consistent with the Fed Reserve's softly, softly approach, they've also indicated that interest rates won't be going up in a hurry, even as the US economy continues to recover - an encouraging signal to the US (and the rest of the world) that concrete evidence of a sustainable recovery will be needed before interest rates are finally raised in earnest.

The ending of US QE is also a positive for Australia and removes a source of upwards pressure on the Australian dollar (great for exporters).

Rick Maggi Westmount I Financial Solutions

19/10/14: Comment: FOFA amendments disallowed

Should you care?

Back in July, the government negotiated a deal with Clive Palmer to save the 'FOFA' (Future of Financial Advice) amendments. However this morning two cross benchers (Senators Lambie and Muir) did an about-face and joined Labor senators opposing the government's FOFA agenda. We can only assume that we will now see the return of FOFA (the'full-strength' version) unless a compromise can be found.

Considering Senator Lambie's recent clashes with PUP leader Clive Palmer, this seems more like a personal grudge, along with a good helping of political naivety. But for better or worse, that's the system we now have.

So exactly what does this mean for you, as a client of a financial adviser? Hysteria and vested interests aside, probably very little.

If you already have a good relationship with a non-aligned financial adviser who provides an efficient and meaningful service to you at a fair price, you won't notice much (or any) change to the way he or she interacts with you.

Let's not forget that FOFA (Labor's full strength version) was introduced almost 18 months ago which, among other things, effectively banned investment commissions and ramped-up disclosure requirements, creating a more transparent, trusting environment for investors, retirees and professional financial advisors alike. And contrary to media reports, this law was welcomed by virtually all concerned, including financial advisors, and continues to this day.

The FOFA amendments or FOFA 'lite' (introduced by the Liberals) sought to reduce some of the new law's excessive 'red-tape' without jeopardising the lion's share of consumer protections. Personally, I thought a regulatory adjustment made some sense, but that's history now.

I've spent over 30 years in financial services and I believe that the vast majority of financial advisers I've known over this time are ethical, educated, well-meaning people who sincerely want the very best for their clients, and to also run profitable practices for themselves, their families, and their employees. That's just good business.

So naturally, it has been disappointing to see the reputations and motives of solid professionals being publicly denigrated during this lengthy, polarising process.

My advice is to ignore the cynics with obvious vested interests. If you're comfortable with your current financial adviser, hold on tight and follow your own instincts, chances are you're in very good hands.

Time to move forward.

Rick Maggi