Author Topic: Australian Investing Thread  (Read 2590676 times)

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4750 on: January 15, 2020, 07:09:20 PM »
Tax avoidance is illegal.  Super is a tax-minimisation vehicle, design to reward people for locking money away for up to 40 and beyond years in order to less of a burden on taxpayers

happy

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4751 on: January 16, 2020, 03:47:57 AM »
FIFY.

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4752 on: January 16, 2020, 02:08:06 PM »
Thanks :-)

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4753 on: January 21, 2020, 11:43:30 PM »
Holy sheeeeeet. How about all that froth in the market at the moment? Up, up and away, the Santa rally is in full force.

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4754 on: January 22, 2020, 01:51:42 AM »
It's bloody terrifying.  S&P500 futures is up 0.43% at the moment as well.

On the plus side, I'm now within $10k now of the big 3.   I crossed the big 2 in June 2018 !  Holy sheeet.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4755 on: January 30, 2020, 12:24:11 PM »
***Dumb question alert*** Will the Aussie dollar ever get better? During the gfc, it exceeded the USD. Are we ever going to see that again? And if it rises, do any of you do anything to take advantage of the better exchange rate before it drops again? I’m just thinking about how much more money I need if I want to live outside Australia while retired, and want the US and Europe as options not just SE Asia and Central America.

deborah

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4756 on: January 30, 2020, 12:34:09 PM »
***Dumb question alert*** Will the Aussie dollar ever get better? During the gfc, it exceeded the USD. Are we ever going to see that again? And if it rises, do any of you do anything to take advantage of the better exchange rate before it drops again? I’m just thinking about how much more money I need if I want to live outside Australia while retired, and want the US and Europe as options not just SE Asia and Central America.
It will get better. It will also get worse. As I travel overseas each year, I have some money in the money market that I use if it's better value than I can get when I'm traveling. So far, this strategy has paid dividends, but I realise it's market timing. If you plan to live in other places, you should adjust your investments so that your 'home bias' includes those places. That way you should be able to afford all the places you want to live, but will probably be slightly worse off than if you only had one country as your 'home bias'.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4757 on: January 30, 2020, 12:44:04 PM »
***Dumb question alert*** Will the Aussie dollar ever get better? During the gfc, it exceeded the USD. Are we ever going to see that again? And if it rises, do any of you do anything to take advantage of the better exchange rate before it drops again? I’m just thinking about how much more money I need if I want to live outside Australia while retired, and want the US and Europe as options not just SE Asia and Central America.
It will get better. It will also get worse. As I travel overseas each year, I have some money in the money market that I use if it's better value than I can get when I'm traveling. So far, this strategy has paid dividends, but I realise it's market timing. If you plan to live in other places, you should adjust your investments so that your 'home bias' includes those places. That way you should be able to afford all the places you want to live, but will probably be slightly worse off than if you only had one country as your 'home bias'.

Thank you for responding. I’m a bit confused by what you mean. Say I live in Australia but want to move to Portugal to live. So, you’re saying I need European investments in my index portfolio? I use the Vanguard high growth Lifestrategy fund, don’t think I can change that. Is home bias Australia?

deborah

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4758 on: January 30, 2020, 02:00:24 PM »
Everyone has home bias, and it is good and bad. Australia has about 1.5% of the world's economy, so in theory, if you had no home bias, you would have 1.5% of your investments in the Australian economy, but many people have a hard time justifying even as low as 40% Australian shares. This can be seen as reasonable because
 
- our companies participate in other economies,
- we get more value from Australian shares because of our taxation rules,
- we need somewhere to live, so buy property here,
- we live in Australia, and are using Australian dollars, so need to have our investments giving us an Australian wage...

BUT it is still home bias.

If you plan to live in Portugal, Australia and the USA, you need to change your home bias to Portugal, Australia and the USA. How you do this is up to you. You can get a European index and an American index, you can buy property in your home countries...

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4759 on: February 06, 2020, 04:09:12 PM »
On the plus side, I'm now within $10k now of the big 3.   I crossed the big 2 in June 2018 !  Holy sheeet.

Took 16 days and plunged a couple of times, but as of right now the invested assets is north of $3m.  That's a $400k increase in the 18 months since I stopped work.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2020, 04:00:34 PM by mjr »

chevy1956

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4760 on: February 07, 2020, 02:18:44 AM »
On the plus side, I'm now within $10k now of the big 3.   I crossed the big 2 in June 2018 !  Holy sheeet.

Took 16 days and plunged a couple of times, but as of right now the invested assets is north of $3m.  That's a $400k increase in the 18 months since I stopped worked.

That was good timing to retire. I'm worried it's going to come down when I retire. I do have bonds to draw down on at the start though.

mrmoonymartian

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4761 on: February 07, 2020, 06:28:33 AM »

I don't know if this is a widespread concern, but one niggle for me at least with the latest update is that countries outside the US can't specify US for the international stocks any more, but are locked into WLD. In an ideal WLD, I would be able to select from more of the investment options you have data for, in a single portfolio (eg. domestic TSM + US SCV + EM + WLD REITS +...). But I would understand completely if the response is: "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave".


Thanks for your hard work Tyler.

I agree that it would be great to see some US based assets added, converted back to $AUD. It looks like you've done this for SCV in Canadian portfolios. In Australia we have a reasonable variety of listed US markets ETFs available to choose from, and many people use them in their portfolios. We also have the option of buying NYSE ETFs directly through our local brokers.
@Daniel S check out his latest update...

https://portfoliocharts.com/2020/01/06/the-future-of-portfolio-analysis-has-more-history-than-ever/

Daniel S

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4762 on: February 07, 2020, 07:01:54 AM »

I don't know if this is a widespread concern, but one niggle for me at least with the latest update is that countries outside the US can't specify US for the international stocks any more, but are locked into WLD. In an ideal WLD, I would be able to select from more of the investment options you have data for, in a single portfolio (eg. domestic TSM + US SCV + EM + WLD REITS +...). But I would understand completely if the response is: "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave".


Thanks for your hard work Tyler.

I agree that it would be great to see some US based assets added, converted back to $AUD. It looks like you've done this for SCV in Canadian portfolios. In Australia we have a reasonable variety of listed US markets ETFs available to choose from, and many people use them in their portfolios. We also have the option of buying NYSE ETFs directly through our local brokers.
@Daniel S check out his latest update...

https://portfoliocharts.com/2020/01/06/the-future-of-portfolio-analysis-has-more-history-than-ever/

Thanks for this mrmoonymartian. Our prayers have been answered!

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4763 on: February 07, 2020, 04:18:30 PM »
That was good timing to retire. I'm worried it's going to come down when I retire. I do have bonds to draw down on at the start though.

It was, that's for sure.  But even if the share market comes a gutsa in the next couple of years, it's likely that a higher withdrawal rate will be ok on the reduced valuations.

Of course, my skiting at 9:10 resulted in the market turning so my total closed $7k underneath that magic number :-)

I don't plan on my withdrawal rate ever exceeding 3% on my curretn valuation.  For now, I'm puttering along nicely at 1%, but that will change when I get less nervous (fingers crossed)

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4764 on: February 08, 2020, 03:57:56 PM »
I don't plan on my withdrawal rate ever exceeding 3% on my curretn valuation.  For now, I'm puttering along nicely at 1%, but that will change when I get less nervous (fingers crossed)

Once you are at 3% you are good. You will end up filthy rich at this rate at least in terms of wealth to spending needs which to me is what it means to be wealthy. If you want to spend you should spend.

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4765 on: February 26, 2020, 01:56:32 AM »
Been watching the markets with a wry smile lately. On 30 January I sold substantially all of my equities portfolio in order to fund the purchase of an investment property.

5238 units of VAS @ $88.56, best part of half a million. The market did what it did and continued racing upwards to $91 and I sat there contemplating whether I should have let it run until closer to the property settlement before the red ink spilt this week. If I hadn't sold I'd be shitting bricks right now.

Bird in the hand allows me to sleep at night, have the cash sitting in the bank account staying deathly static while commsec has blood all over every page.

Stay the course and buy more if you can, but this little piggy is happy with his impeccable market timing :D

deborah

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4766 on: February 26, 2020, 02:18:39 AM »
Well done Marty!

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4767 on: February 26, 2020, 05:38:02 AM »
Well done Marty!

Thanks. Dumb luck more than anything haha. At work we were in disbelief that the markets hadn't reacted to COVID-19 earlier than they did. Like we're supposed to have believed that China had it all under control?

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4768 on: February 26, 2020, 11:07:39 AM »
Well done Marty!

Thanks. Dumb luck more than anything haha. At work we were in disbelief that the markets hadn't reacted to COVID-19 earlier than they did. Like we're supposed to have believed that China had it all under control?

What an interesting move, buying the investment property. Would you be able to walk us through your thinking? You’re going to get a tax hit for selling right? And then stamp duty and the costs of purchase? Do you believe the investment property will yield more than index funds? What’s convinced you that active management of property is financially smarter?

Not trying to challenge you, just learn as you’re one of the members whose views I value here.

itchyfeet

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4769 on: February 26, 2020, 11:09:11 AM »
Well done Marty!

Thanks. Dumb luck more than anything haha. At work we were in disbelief that the markets hadn't reacted to COVID-19 earlier than they did. Like we're supposed to have believed that China had it all under control?

What an interesting move, buying the investment property. Would you be able to walk us through your thinking? You’re going to get a tax hit for selling right? And then stamp duty and the costs of purchase? Do you believe the investment property will yield more than index funds? What’s convinced you that active management of property is financially smarter?

Not trying to challenge you, just learn as you’re one of the members whose views I value here.

Good questions

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4770 on: February 26, 2020, 12:33:45 PM »
Yes, I'd be keen to know too. 

Good luck with bailing on the markets when you did, but a wholesale shift from equities to (Sydney ?) based investment property is not something I would have considered.

Numerous articles in the Australian in the last week about terrible yield from property at the moment.  Of course, this doesn't preclude capital growth, but then you get into the whole can't-sell-off-pieces for income in retirement when you need to.

That's assuming of course that said IP isn't in an SMSF.

I'm not sure only a 6% drop is worth buying more, but I do have to move some cash into my own SMSF soon, so this may be the time...
« Last Edit: February 26, 2020, 12:35:18 PM by mjr »

deborah

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4771 on: February 26, 2020, 02:42:50 PM »
But Marty has always had some investment property as well as investment in the share market. It's called diversification! I'd also expect that he still has a finger in the share market, in the form of his super. Aren't we all supposed to diversify?

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4772 on: February 26, 2020, 04:42:29 PM »
Just going off this:

I sold substantially all of my equities portfolio in order to fund the purchase of an investment property.

I'm all for diversification. I have my PPOR and REITs, but a big chunk of physical real estate with mediocre income which will one day be hit with a big capital gain tax bill at the expense of equities is what I am querying.

itchyfeet

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4773 on: February 26, 2020, 07:28:53 PM »
I have Australian properties too. But I can’t say I am overly enamoured with the idea of owning more. In fact I am trying to decide when to sell.

I have a very expensive house in Inner Sydney that I just can’t believe is worth as much money as it is.  Rent yield is dismal especially after I pay a criminal amount of land tax and I can’t see who could possibly pay more for this house in years to come to make it a good capital gains play.

I also own a house in Brisbane that is worth roughly the same in real terms as when I bought it 6 years ago. The rent yield is ok I suppose, but after I take out all costs and allow for the odd weeks of vacancy every few years it’s only 3.5% which is less than Aussie dividend yields and comes with the inflexibility of a property investmemt.... This said, I am probably going to hold onto the Brisbane property for the time being as it does give me some diversification and a  3.5% rent yield mathematically means a 4% drawdown will last 40 years. Of course I will need to sell the place at some point when I need to turn the investment into something more liquid. Hopefully that is a ways down the line.

So on this basis I am keen to hear an alternate view on why now is a good time to buy.

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4774 on: February 27, 2020, 12:21:38 AM »
Well done Marty!

Thanks. Dumb luck more than anything haha. At work we were in disbelief that the markets hadn't reacted to COVID-19 earlier than they did. Like we're supposed to have believed that China had it all under control?

What an interesting move, buying the investment property. Would you be able to walk us through your thinking? You’re going to get a tax hit for selling right? And then stamp duty and the costs of purchase? Do you believe the investment property will yield more than index funds? What’s convinced you that active management of property is financially smarter?

Not trying to challenge you, just learn as you’re one of the members whose views I value here.

Good questions

A few answers:

- Yes the equities portfolio generated substantial capital gains, but as chance would have it, I had an equivalent amount of capital losses still carried forward from 2009-2010 (margin lending fucked my life lol). I'll have about $2k in CGT payable, not going to lose sleep over it.
- No getting around stamp duty, its an "inconvenience". You pay it (~$37,500), but consider it over the period I expect to hold this property (20 years or more) it's not so bad. Of course, you don't pay this for shares, so that's a plus in the shares column and a cross against property.
- Yields from property have always been terrible, that's nothing new, I'll be getting around 4.5% gross on this one. The flip side is leveraged capital gains, and leveraged gains that are relatively safer than shares, because it's unlikely I'll be forced to sell. I've bought into a relatively affluent area, that already experienced a 20% fall in value over the past 2 years, but is now on an upswing. Definitely have not paid top of the boom prices. I don't expect any issues with getting it rented - the apartment is a 4 bed unit which is rare and a huge positive, and an equivalent one in the complex was just leased for more than expectations within a week of it being advertised.
- Tax! I have aimed for a neutrally geared outcome on this property, but after capital works deductions I'll come out ahead tax wise. The share portfolio was going to result in a substantial ongoing tax bill with it generating significant dividends (and not all of it franked either). Selling up and buying the property will help a little bit tax wise.
- I still have funds ($250k) in offset on my PPOR. Can easily debt recycle this and put it back into shares if I want to. That money was always set aside as a deposit for a future PPOR, but its unlikely I'm going to buy a new home anytime soon.


I'm planning out the long term. I have 26 years until I can access super. If/when I FIRE, I won't need to sell any of the properties immediately - I'll likely have several years, if not decades worth of funds in offset accounts and well as in equities when I rebuild the share portfolio.

Too often people fall into the trap of thinking its a "bad time to buy now". However, when you look back 30 years you'd definitely wish you bought in 1990. Sure prices could go down in the next 2,3,5 years, but sure as shit they won't be at these "low" levels in 2050.

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4775 on: February 27, 2020, 02:33:05 AM »
Interesting call Marty!  Good on you for having the conviction to act.  I'm sticking the course - PPOR + equities, plus a small amount of gearing.

I checked my numbers today - the stash is down $200k in a week. That's a steep decline. 
Quick check - is it a bargain and should I start levering up?  The stash is back to where it was at the end of last year (2 months ago).  My journal notes at that point were struggling to comprehend the run-up we were experiencing.  So, its not a bargain yet. 

Looking further back (to drop another 10% from here), and my notes in March 2019 were:
"Not much to report, dividends flowing, reinvestment happening. Values on the rise. Busy hoarding cash and reducing debt at the moment, can't bring myself to purchase right now. Blown away by the quantity of dividends and special dividends at the moment.
"

So, a year ago I thought things 10% lower than today were expensive.  Evidently, I am not yet at lever up and buy levels, and there is still a fair way to go before I will be.

One thing I am thinking about however is exchange rates.  The Aussie dollar has fallen a lot.  I'm currently earning in Euros - I had been keeping my earnings in an EU back account to use as splash money here.  I'm now thinking about starting to repatriate some of it.  I'm also going to change tack on my international shares - thus far I have always bought un-hedged international shares, because I wanted to diversify the currency risk.  However, with the dollar low in my opinion, I'm now going to be buying new international shares in hedged form instead.  I'm doing this via the SMSF due to the potential tax issues of hedged shares.

Interested if anyone else is making adjustments at the moment?

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4776 on: February 27, 2020, 09:53:00 AM »
A few answers:

- Yes the equities portfolio generated substantial capital gains, but as chance would have it, I had an equivalent amount of capital losses still carried forward from 2009-2010 (margin lending fucked my life lol). I'll have about $2k in CGT payable, not going to lose sleep over it.


Can you give any insight on the 2009-2010? were you over geared? 2009 was when the markets started to recover or were you in individual stocks back then not indices?

The reason i'm asking is i have a margin which is currently at below 10% LVR and thinking of gradually increasing it to approx 30% if this current correction continues.

itchyfeet

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4777 on: February 27, 2020, 11:57:36 AM »
Interested if anyone else is making adjustments at the moment?

I hear you on the AUD. I have been earning USD for these past 5+ years and I still have 2012-2013 exchange rates in my mind. When I negotiated my salary in 2014 the AUD was already sliding and I used a 3 year average fx rate to support my salary request.

Since then the AUD has been generally weakening v the USD and I have always felt lucky to be earning USD. Consequently I have always been regularly changing a lot of my savings back to AUD. I do have several hundred Thousand in non AUD investments, but am really heavily weighted to AUD. Consequently I don’t feel any desire to change more to AUD not withstanding the moves this past month.

I do, however, feel fairly confident saying the USD will weaken once this Coronavirus uncertainty is behind us, so agree with your thinking and strategy.

I am not making any big moves, but the market moves this past week has given me pause for thought heading into FIRE. I do want to have a bit more cash available in my first years of FIRE in case I don’t want to sell equities. Hence, I will be focussed on paying down realestate debt and building up a war chest in the redraw facility. I am not too scared of short term interest hikes at the moment, so will stay somewhat leveraged. But not the $1M I have in debt today.

My big move will come when I finally sell out of Sydney, but honestly I am still a few years away from that.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2020, 12:00:15 PM by itchyfeet »

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4778 on: February 27, 2020, 01:42:58 PM »
A few answers:

- Yes the equities portfolio generated substantial capital gains, but as chance would have it, I had an equivalent amount of capital losses still carried forward from 2009-2010 (margin lending fucked my life lol). I'll have about $2k in CGT payable, not going to lose sleep over it.


Can you give any insight on the 2009-2010? were you over geared? 2009 was when the markets started to recover or were you in individual stocks back then not indices?

The reason i'm asking is i have a margin which is currently at below 10% LVR and thinking of gradually increasing it to approx 30% if this current correction continues.

I was 50% geared going into November 2007. In individual stocks.... VAS wasn't around back then I don't remember... STW was the main index fund but I wasn't familiar with it. I was mostly in banks and a few REITS, which fell more than 50%, i some case 75% pretty quickly. The ones I was still in didn't rebound as much through 2009, and by early 2010 I only had a parcel of Westpac shares left.

Even when the gearing was reduced to 30%, you'd still be looking at a 4.0%+ loss every day the market fell 3%. Enough of those strung together and you start getting in strife very quickly.

My 2c, don't do it on margin - do it on a secured property loan.

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4779 on: February 27, 2020, 10:58:03 PM »
-$250k for the week.  Stings a bit :-)

How'd others do ?

deborah

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4780 on: February 27, 2020, 11:03:03 PM »
-$250k for the week.  Stings a bit :-)

How'd others do ?

You must have an awful lot of money in the stock exchange!

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4781 on: February 27, 2020, 11:48:34 PM »
A bit.  $2.1m now.

Less than I had on Monday...

Mate of mine had all of his dough + a big chunk of house equity in the market - $6m worth.

I bet he's smarting a bit too.  I'd ask him, but he's on holidays at the moment - in China...

Winner

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4782 on: February 28, 2020, 12:34:29 AM »
A bit.  $2.1m now.

Less than I had on Monday...

Mate of mine had all of his dough + a big chunk of house equity in the market - $6m worth.

I bet he's smarting a bit too.  I'd ask him, but he's on holidays at the moment - in China...

Winner

Eh... but 6 months ago he would've had the same amount that he has today. 

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4783 on: February 28, 2020, 12:44:57 AM »
Agreed - given the performance of the market over the last couple of years, no one should be in strife or complaining... yet.

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4784 on: February 28, 2020, 03:47:17 AM »
A bit.  $2.1m now.

Less than I had on Monday...

Mate of mine had all of his dough + a big chunk of house equity in the market - $6m worth.

I bet he's smarting a bit too.  I'd ask him, but he's on holidays at the moment - in China...

Winner

Eh... but 6 months ago he would've had the same amount that he has today.
Exactly! I suspect we now have enough of a drop for people to start panicking and flip the momentum and sentiment in the market. I'm not doing much, converting some euros and will buy some vgad in the super fund,  but really only catching up on regular contributions.

Given I'm living and working overseas at the moment, I'm as interested in the exchange rate movements as anything else!

happy

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4785 on: February 28, 2020, 04:01:08 PM »
I've carrying too much in cash for a while now, so my super balance remains steady since Dec 2019. I'm not going to "lever up" but like Bigchris, I'm not buying yet either and waiting for maybe another 10% to come off the market.


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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4786 on: February 29, 2020, 03:35:33 AM »
However, with the dollar low in my opinion, I'm now going to be buying new international shares in hedged form instead.  I'm doing this via the SMSF due to the potential tax issues of hedged shares.

Could you elaborate on the tax implications of hedged shares? I’ve not heard this mentioned anywhere before.

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4787 on: February 29, 2020, 12:29:20 PM »
FX hedges used to hedge currency risk on foreign currency denominated assets are typically rolling three month FX forward contracts, which are realised on a much more frequent basis than the underlying asset. This causes a timing mismatch between the gains/losses resulting from the hedges and the gains/losses from the underlying asset. The effect is that a fund will frequently be forced to distribute gains resulting from FX hedges as those contracts are rolled every three months, even though the respective underlying asset may not have yet been realised

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4788 on: March 03, 2020, 12:34:29 PM »
Must be seeing things. Swear there was a dead cat bouncing down the road outside yesterday.

bigchrisb

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4789 on: March 05, 2020, 04:01:19 AM »
FX hedges used to hedge currency risk on foreign currency denominated assets are typically rolling three month FX forward contracts, which are realised on a much more frequent basis than the underlying asset. This causes a timing mismatch between the gains/losses resulting from the hedges and the gains/losses from the underlying asset. The effect is that a fund will frequently be forced to distribute gains resulting from FX hedges as those contracts are rolled every three months, even though the respective underlying asset may not have yet been realised

Pretty good summary. What it means for me is that vgad will have more volatility in distributions depending on what the exchange rate does. More turnover means more taxable income to report. Hence better to hold it in a low tax environment.

I also intend to sell and convert to vgs at some point in the future if the aud is stronger.  Personally, I see unhedged as the long term hold, but may pick up a few extra percent until that point.

marty998

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4790 on: March 06, 2020, 12:14:17 AM »
How long until Flight Centre and Webjet look like decent buys? Those two and Qantas still look like they've got a bit further to fall. But they could be great purchases for the medium term.

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4791 on: March 06, 2020, 01:11:33 AM »
I'll snaffle them up along with everyone else when I buy VAS in about a month !

Eucalyptus

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4792 on: March 06, 2020, 07:07:13 AM »
As perhaps the "povo student" of this forum, I was pretty proud of myself managing to have enough funds to drop $1000 on my super a couple of days ago. As well as buying a bit lower, I'll get the $500 co-contribution from the commonwealth for it. Was planning to do this just before the end of the financial year anyway, assuming I have enough funds (work is pretty random and casual and I go through periods on Nursing placement where i can't work). But I felt comfortable and safe enough to do it with the next two mortgage payments already covered to take advantage of a bit of a market dip. It might crash a heap further but I'm happy with that little potential long term gain :-)

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4793 on: March 06, 2020, 05:37:52 PM »
@Eucalyptus high fives for you!

bigchrisb

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4794 on: March 07, 2020, 11:58:37 AM »
Nice work Eucalyptus!

As for bargains, I see that the travel sector is getting hammered.  Flybe collapsed in the UK.  The one I'm watching at the moment is VAHHA, a listed note/bond from Virgin Australia.  Its been smashed in the last couple of weeks, and is trading at 75c in the dollar. 

It has a fixed face yield of 8% and lasts for 5 years (Nov 2024).  What that means is that you are buying $140 in future cash flows for $75.  A bargain, provided Virgin Australia does not go bust in the next 4 years an 8 months.

Given that they were already in some financial strife prior to the virus problems emerging in China , I don't see it as risk free by any means.  But I am watching it, and am tempted to start to accumulate it over the next while.  I see it as a similar mis-pricing, akin to the SVWPA pricing a few years ago - I did very well out of that (although SVW is much more diversified as a business than Virgin). 

Richmond 2020

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4795 on: March 08, 2020, 11:54:33 PM »
Interesting times. I have a large amount of funds sitting in the offset account. Will need to consider my options.

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4796 on: March 09, 2020, 12:25:23 AM »
I am like a kid in the candy store:)

bigchrisb

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4797 on: March 09, 2020, 12:39:21 AM »
I'm back into accumulation at the moment. Mostly index etfs of one flavour or another. Also continuing to repatriate earnings from euros - exchange rate has shifted 10% in a short time.

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4798 on: March 09, 2020, 01:26:34 AM »
Look at that crash! Just got me some VAS today. 7% fall. Its just too bad now that I don't have anymore money that I'm willing to part with.

I have worked out that the dividend yield is now almost 5%. I mean supposing that yield doesn't decline from a pending recession.

mjr

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Re: Australian Investing Thread
« Reply #4799 on: March 09, 2020, 02:26:22 AM »
I'm of the view it has a way to fall yet.  The upcoming recession hasn't hit yet, nor has the virus properly taken hold and made its effects felt on our health and subsequent behaviours.

The market is back to what it was a year ago.  I didn't throw oodles of cash in then and I'm not doing so now (yet).

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!