Welcome to the RaboDirect Blog!

Submitted on Monday, 25 July 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

If you are a fan of term deposits (TDs) with their guaranteed rates and fixed terms, you may well be choosing to, either consciously or unconsciously, ‘auto-roll’ (re-invest) your investment when it matures. This means that when you took out a TD investment, you agreed to let your bank (or other TD provider) reinvest that money into another investment of the same term if you don’t notify them to the contrary before maturity.More >

View discussions  (3)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Tuesday, 28 June 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

A while ago RaboDirect conducted an interesting social experiment by placing a fake tree in Sydney’s Circular Quay. The tree’s branches were full of fresh five dollar notes. The underlying message, of course, is that money does not grow on trees. Nor does it magically appear from a hole in the wall!More >

View discussions  (0)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

I was recently asked by a journalist to provide some tips for parents wishing to teach their kids about the value of money. This is a topic that I feel strongly about and one that has been front of mind this year after the government announced financial literacy is to be taught in schools.More >

View discussions  (0)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Friday, 3 June 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

The simple truth is there are no secrets which guarantee a ‘rags to riches’ path for investors but successful investors do understand three really important investment fundamentals. These three factors will always be key ingredients for successful investing and will never be made redundant in the successful investor’s toolkit. They’re even more important whenever you hear someone say: “This time it’s different.”More >

View discussions  (0)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Wednesday, 25 May 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

Part of Swan’s budget confirmed that a discount on interest from savings will take effect from 1 July. Almost 6 million savers will receive a windfall in the form of a tax break, which will be particularly nice for those that are doing it a bit tough at the moment.More >

View discussions  (0)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Thursday, 19 May 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

I am loving the latest RaboDirect advertising campaign encouraging Aussie savers to ‘steal back their dreams’ to the tune of some $4billion in unpaid savings by the major banks. More >

View discussions  (0)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Sunday, 1 May 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

Did you know that the average Aussie is technically worth a handsome 266 grand? That’s hypothetical, of course, and is based on recent figures which show the value of our nation’s private (non government) sector has tipped over $60 trillion. Imagine if we were all that much in the black, and not puddling around in the red ink of debt!More >

View discussions  (2)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Thursday, 31 March 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

Last week a former director of a failed Geelong based investment scheme was jailed for almost 14 years for his part in the collapse of a Ponzi scheme which saw investors lose more than $82 million. I vividly recall when this and a host of other investments collapsed leading up to and during the global financial crisis. I cannot understand why so many people appear to gladly hand over large sums of money to schemes which have all the hallmarks of being prone to failure.More >

View discussions  (0)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 | Category: RaboDirect

You can rely on investment markets to do two things – to overcook the optimism and to overcook the pessimism and I have a strong sense that’s what we’ve seen initially in terms of pessimism regarding the events in Japan over the last couple of weeks. Your task as an investor is to try and recognise when the ‘kitchen’ is getting too hot on either side of the confidence ledger but to not make decisions in panic.More >

View discussions  (2)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink

Submitted on Tuesday, 22 February 2011 | Category: Investing

In the early 1990s I met an investor who should have been in a so-called ‘high net worth’ position. A lengthy professional career had matured with income in excess of $250,000 per year for most of the previous decade. On balance, this person should have been financially well established.More >

View discussions  (3)  Trackbacks  (0)  Permalink