What if you invested in CBA in year 2000?

Commonwealth Bank’s share price has recently increased above $75 which is well above its pre-GFC high of $60 (and massively above its GFC low of less than $30! It is amazing to reflect back to September 1991 when it first traded at $6.81… which means the share price has increased by an annual compounding rate …

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Interest rate competition is hotting up

There have been some positive signs in the banking sector (particularly with respect to competition) that I wanted to update you on. When the Global Financial Crisis hit Australian shores many lenders retreated from the market (stopped lending) and quite a few of the second tier lenders where acquired by the Big 4 including St …

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Accidents can happen

Most people would have read about the skiing accident that former formula one driver Michael Schumacher suffered about a month ago. He is still in a coma and his future health is very uncertain. Apparently, Michael took care of his health and was very fit. However, of course, accidents can happen to anyone and we …

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On change and pips…..

I ate a mandarin recently and got annoyed at the number of pips in my fruit (an average of 3 pips per segment…that’s a lot of pips). I wondered how much more enjoyable that mandarin would have been had it not had any pips. It struck me later that those pips, those little seeds, are …

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Money and your happiness

Firstly, I have to warn you that this newsletter diverges from the traditional financial topics that I usually write about. My advice is to read this newsletter with an open mind and be prepared for something different. I had the pleasure of recently seeing Shawn Achor, a Harvard-trained researcher and an expert in happiness and …

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The Year 2022…

It’s the year 2022 (September). Collingwood has won 3 premierships in a row and are looking good for a fourth. Geelong hasn’t made the eight in 7 years. I am considering using Grecian 2000. Stuart is hosting The Apprentice and the number one news item that night is that the stock market just made a …

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