A bad result for the government in the latest fortnightly Newspoll, with the Coalition’s two-party lead out from 54-46 to 57-43. The primary votes are 28 per cent for Labor (down three) and 47 per cent for the Coalition (up four). Julia Gillard at least has the consolation that her personal ratings have improved from the previous fortnight’s dismal result, with her approval up three to 31 per cent and disapproval down four to 58 per cent. Tony Abbott’s ratings are unchanged at 32 per cent approval and 58 per cent disapproval, and there is likewise essentially no change on preferred prime minister (Gillard leads 40-37, up from 39-37).
Another consolation for Labor is the possibility that a bit of static might be expected from a poll conducted over the same weekend as a state election such as the one in Queensland. They can be fortified in this view by the fact that their standing improved in this week’s Essential Research poll, the most recent weekly component of which was conducted over a longer period than Newspoll (Wednesday to Sunday rather than Friday to Sunday). Very unusually, given that Essential is a two-week rolling average, this showed a two-point shift on two-party preferred, with the Coalition lead shrinking from 56-44 to 54-46. Given that Essential spiked to 57-43 a fortnight ago, and the sample which sent it there has now washed out of the rolling average, this is not entirely surprising. Labor’s primary vote is up two to 34 per cent, and the Coalition’s is down one to 47 per cent. Further questions featured in the poll cover the economy, its prospects, best party to handle it and personal financial situation (slightly more optimism than six months ago, and Labor up in line with its overall improvement since then), job security, Kony 2012, taking sickies and the impact of the high dollar.
Diogenes – An accountant told me setting up his own self-managed fund quite some years ago was the worst decision he ever made. Even worse was trying to close it down while retaining some of what he’d put in …
[What are the ups and downs of a self-managed superfund vs an industry super fund?]
Costs, control and responsibilities are the main differences and again it all depends on your situation which is a plus and which is a minus. For the record I advise all of my friends except the one friend I have with a few million dollars not to set up an SMSF. Really get on the net for a good few hours and start googling anything that can educate you – it’ll be a break from PB!
Dio
[What are the ups and downs of a self-managed superfund vs an industry super fund?]
Check out the average returns for super funds in Australia over the last decade or so and you will see that they simply do not add value for the average punter, which would be you were you to entrust them with your money. In fact, lots of punters are worse off than when they started. They are usually so big that they are not agile enough to react on a large enough scale to sorts of macro economic changes that are occurring during the GFC. There are tens of thousands of people in the industry who aparently do not much more than skive off any profits.
If you run your own SMF, you will be up for significant time. Part of this will be administrative and part of it will be making investment decisions. However, if you don’t like this sort of stuff, you should probably not be doing it.
and some dickhead here boasted they could make a phone call to mick gatto
wtf
some real creeps are being exposed
carey moore – from that linked piece:
[The irony is that former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was ousted by Gillard in a coup that bears all the hallmarks of US influence, was hugely popular in his home state of Queensland. ]
So Clive is right – the CIA runs Oz? 😆
Is Scoot Morrison a bit like Andrew Bolt, cherry picking data ranges to suit his argument?
Dio
The relevant questions to ask from planners are what commissions they get from particular investments. When I discovered, belatedly, that the spivs were creaming me with undisclosed trailing commissions in perpetuity, I finally decided to set up our SMSF.
From the SMH:
[Astroturfing corporate trolls are the new spam
Traditionally public spaces for expressing opinions have been self-moderating, in that other people will straight-out accuse astroturfing trolls of having a hidden agenda. At this point the troll tends to slink away. You’ll see this in blogs and forums, as well as in the letters pages in newspapers and on talkback radio.
It’s hard to know how many comments, letters and callers are genuine, but the rampant astroturfers tend to stand out. While moderators might be reluctant to directly accuse people of corporate trolling, they can usually rely on others to do it for them.
What’s interesting is that corporate trolls are changing their tactics. They’re toning down their opinions while accusing journalists who disagree with them of bias. These astroturfing trolls are actually attempting to come across as the voice of reason and undermine the credibility of those who oppose them. Attacking those who don’t agree with you to undermine them is a trick straight out of the McCarthyism playbook.]
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/computers/blogs/gadgets-on-the-go/astroturfing-corporate-trolls-are-the-new-spam-20120323-1vo9s.html#ixzz1qJ7BL2DD
Nice comment to the article:
[ I think this article just described the Sydney Morning Herald.
Just look at the property section in Fairfax papers – it’s full of articles written by “corporate trolls”.
Deflationist, March 27, 2012, 2:53PM
Well said, if the SMH isn’t trying to convince the population house prices are on the rise, they are promoting the latest Apple product.
The irony in seeing the media write about trolls and astroturfing when this has been their domain for decades is just laughable.
This whole article is set to undermine the comments sections and the publics opinion, and to draw the power back inhouse.
News international has been inbedded with British politics for the past 3 decades, the same News International that is in Australia. The fact they boast they can install and remove governments says it all, so when the media, news papers, TV etc. try and convince you their word is the only one worth listening to, you are being taken for a sucker.
Normal Man, Sydney, March 27, 2012, 5:32PM]
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/computers/blogs/gadgets-on-the-go/astroturfing-corporate-trolls-are-the-new-spam-20120323-1vo9s.html#ixzz1qJ8Adt00
Diog.
smsf is run by you and your accountant. you need to make all the investment decisions unless you hire an adviser to assist with that. cost wise, they have annual fixed costs for audits and financials. if your balance is too low, these fees can eat away at your money.
industry funds benefit from scale economies and can be cheap. can be.. not all are. its all about size and brand. they hire asset consultants and and investmnet managers to do all the investing. in the end the same people advising industry funds are the same that advise retail funds. they move from one to the other without hesitation.
[A particularly sour and gratuitous little piece of bastardry, I thought.]
I won’t even bother to give it a click. SMH living up to its big boss’s (Hyland) new meme of bash the PM and Labor at every turn.
rua
[Is Scoot Morrison a bit like Andrew Bolt, cherry picking data ranges to suit his argument?]
I hope Scoot is buggering off. It would improve the atmosphere and the light.
[As a passing thought, what does Labor do for small business? There must be hundreds if not thousand of ex-unionist who start business and frequently jump ship from Labor and vote Liberal – a bit like getting a bigger house I suppose.]
Ah, the classic two-bob Tory profile.
Well, so far as I know, the latest proposal is to give these poor aspirationals a nice small business tax break, both by way of a company tax scale reduction and accelerated depreciation write-downs, courtesy of the MRRT.
In total, this should amount to a nice little penny in their pockets, too.
The Tories, however, don’t seem to like that idea much and have been trying to roll-it. Despite some initial rumblings of support from the Greens (who wanted it now…this minute..right now), they seem to have wholly failed in this regard and it will start on 1st July.
The Tories seem to think that the only business tax break worth having is a one that has come from the hand of a Tory Government. Tory Tax Cuts, like butter, just naturally taste better it seems.
At least to Tory mouths.
[Super?
Property?
Bonds?
Stock market?]
Super – The future fund which is Supposed to manage the growth of the fund would have earned better returns if it had invested all its money in bonds.
Property – The number of property owners with negative equity is increasing.
Stock market – The Oz stock market is still below its heyday, used to be higher than the UK market. Over inflated due to Howards $1million super gift to struggling millionaires which explained the larger crash.
Bonds – Safe, secure low earning.
Self manged super – depends where you direct your super fund to invest the money, personally know three people who ran own funds. Heavily weighted to stocks, nice returns when stocks doing well but when not, two returned to work due to losses, other downsized house to move to a unit.
Industry funds – all data shows best over time. Other funds like stock market, better returns in good times, horrid (negative) in bad times. Tone has been making noises about industry funds which does not bode well.
and Boerwar is right that if you look at certain timeframes people have lost money. No investments are without risk. Understanding investment risk is MUST for anyone with super.
the basis upon which all investment theory is built is the same for retail funds or industry funds. and it has some pretty big flaws in it. thats why they call big disasters like the gfc ‘black swans’.. as though they are freak events. but really its modern portfolio theory that is inadequate.
Diogs, forget the advice.
Divide your money into 5 parts now.
2 parts BHP
2 parts ANZ
1 part EGP
Your cost – must never say a good thing about the Greens again 😛
ruawake
[Is Scoot Morrison a bit like Andrew Bolt, cherry picking data ranges to suit his argument?]
Bolta is a bit on the outer at the mo. A number of Pies bloggers declare themselves as being Bolta refugees because he has “sold out”. Too politically correct apparently.
Thank you all again.
I greatly prefer getting a variety of opinions than hearing what an accountant says or what is recommended on one site. I’ve learn more in 30 minutes than in the rest of my life about investing.
Back to the politics of it, is there likely to be any changes to investing under Labor in the next few years and what might the Libs change?
myth. not all bonds are safe and secure. greek bonds anyone??
mm
It was a wild ride while it lasted, but bond rates of over 20% should have warned the punters…
hai
Ku
David Cameron offers “Cash for Dining”. Will his “good friend” Tony Abbott offers “Cash For Sleepover”?
the industry funds have stop running the ad about lower fees = better returns, because most of the current on sale retail funds have had commissions striped from them in preparation for FOFA. price isn’t the big differentiator it once was.
[ I’ve learn more in 30 minutes than in the rest of my life about investing.]
Diog, dont forget to set aside my $500 👿
Diog
After all the advice, I can give you the bsb and a/c number to make you a Hockey eleventy squillion.
Let me know when you wish to deposit the cash, sorry cheques declined, gold bars accepted in lieu. 🙂
Flying under the radar….
Would these changes be good for democracy?
http://newmatilda.com/2012/03/27/new-laws-target-wikileaks
[The Labor Government is tightening up Australian law in areas that will have a direct impact on organisations such as WikiLeaks. Only the Greens are challenging the new bills in parliament, and they are receiving scant media
attention.
There’s a new extradition law that will make it easier for foreign governments to request extradition of Australians and a new spying law that broadens ASIO’s reach, which has been dubbed the WikiLeaks Amendment.
And finally there’s a bill that will make it easier to retain digital data for Australians, and easier also to pass that information to overseas law enforcement agencies. Senator Scott Ludlam, the Greens’ spokesperson for communications, told New Matilda that the Attorney-General wants all digital records for all people for all time to be trapped and recorded so that intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and welfare agencies can mine the data.]
Boerwar. the sad truth is that most Australians just dont get involved in their super enough. the default funds are set by propellor head portfolio managers. more australians need to speak up about it.
Diog.
no. no changes. they play with the rules of how much you can put in etc, but they rarely ever dictate what you can invest in. APRA sets prudential standards for trustees of funds. these guide their investment choices.
Dio
Both political parties tinker with super laws all the time. Ditto with tax laws and regulations. Both parties are committed to allowing the Reserve to manipulate interest rates to keep the inflation rate more or less between 2 and 3%.
Both major parties are committed to a structural budgetary tunnel at the end of which there is no light. The Greens are somewhat worse in this respect, IMHO.
Most likely GST will have to go up over time to cover this trouble but the parties might decide to give the private sector a bit of grief on the way through.
The governments cannot control what happens overseas and events there are perfectly capable of rendering nul and void any decisions made by Australian governments.
right got nappies to wash.
And the beauty of all this advice Diog is that none of us has to provide a disclaimer! Changes are always possible with either political party but rarely are there changes which hit you for six and there’s a lot of “grandfathering” when things are made worse so you end up in a privileged position something like those who bought investment property < end of 1985. Their CG will remain tax free (I think … or it did for a very long while).
castle
[Tone has been making noises about industry funds which does not bode well.]
I didn’t want to hear that!
A good industry super fund (choosing a low risk profile) looks like my best bet.
What is Abbott considering?
ruawake
[Let me know when you wish to deposit the cash, sorry cheques declined, gold bars accepted in lieu. ]
Check those bars veeery carefully. 🙂
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/tungsten-filled-1-kilo-gold-bar-found-uk
[The Labor Government is tightening up Australian law in areas that will have a direct impact on organisations such as WikiLeaks.]
Good. 😛
mm @ 925
It never ceases to amaze me that people can get into a perfect frenzy about minor COL changes and ignore completely major investment events in their retirement horizon. My guess is that it is all too hard to understand for the average punter. The industry is not interested in clarity and transparency. And the Coalition is not interested in doing anything other than kowtow to the industry so it is prepared to muddy the waters.
[Mick77
Posted Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 8:06 pm | Permalink
Mari – you’re brave
Put it in property especially at the moment when prices are down, you can write off so much, hopefullymake money on it but make sure you buy[ assume }investment, close to transport etc and don’t buy because”you” love it
How about considering age of person, earnings, liquidity, spouse and own tax position, land tax, CG tax, interest rates .. and as for property being relatively cheap who knows and over what time horizon. Don’t do it Diogenes.]
Maybe I was brave and lucky you don’t go in without thinking about these things you said, but I would have thought Dio was clever enough to take these into account, anyway it worked for us
Dio
I have a Nigerian friend who can help you with your difficulties.
[myth. not all bonds are safe and secure. greek bonds anyone??]
Plus the currency risk as per the farmers and the foreign bank loans.
smithe – My folks owned a small business which went broke due to changes in the market despite long hours they put in.
The Liberals of the day basically said something along the lines “Them’s the breaks with capitalism” whereas local Labor candidate was kind of happy we went broke as we seemed like bourgouise capitalists to him.
I well remember this. No friends on either side of the political divide then.
It’s time for all Labor supporters to face unpleasant facts: Labor will not win the next Federal election while Julia is Leader.
This is not a time for navel gazing and hoping things will improve – they won’t, and we all know it – as the polls have been consistent for a long time now.
Like him or hate him, accuse him of being a bastard to work with etc, the fact remains that Rudd is the only one who can come close to winning the election for Labor.
I have just gone through last Saturday’s massacre, having worked from 7am to 8pm at my polling booth, and it’s not very pleasant watching the massacre occur as you scrutineer the votes being counted.
The same fate awaits Labor Federally, and we all know that, too.
It’s time for all Labor MPs to face up to their responsibilities, and work towards drafting Rudd to the leadership. Or don’t they have Australians interests at heart anymore?
mari
[but I would have thought Dio was clever enough to take these into account, anyway it worked for us]
The reputation doctors have for being financially hopeless is well-deserved and I’m no exception.
Diogs , boring!
[A good industry super fund]
They just track the All Ords.
Keep buying the stocks I mentioned in bulk and don’t stop = will outperform!
feeney
It must have been hard to scrutineer in that situation. Our booth was bad for Labor as well in the last Federal election. It was not a pleasant sensation, even when we phoned our numbers through and learned that Mike Kelly had been returned.
feeney:
You are right, but its too late.
i’ll disclose a little of myself on this Diog. I’ve been a product manager of retail investment and super funds, as well as product deveopment manager for an investment firm who manages money on behalf of industry funds.
so i’ve seen both sides. there are good offerings on both sides, and similarly poor ones on both sides.
Diogenes
[A good industry super fund (choosing a low risk profile) looks like my best bet.]
The BLF and the Can’t Make Em Fecking Work Union’s industry fund has been brilliant. But then from day one they had “The Sandman’s” dad Bernie Fraser on board the board.Go CBUS and go ANZ shares.
The Sandman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5TVA7pnqNw
Bernie Fraser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4peUg7loF7A
[What is Abbott considering?]
Will find the article and post link Dio, pointed to Tone not liking set up of the funds and wanted them changed. Bit like how the changes to mutual societies were going to benefit the members but only benefited the financial advisers, sounded like Tone was wooing them.
c
Mr Abbott has been firmly on the side of the advisers and not on the side of the peeps in all this.
Bloody disgraceful.
feeney
You will note which poster supported your view. Not an accident!
I want to put my super into my home isuch a change (even with appropriate controls and even caps and limits) would be incredibly popular in the mortgage belt.
That and an end to negative gearing would be heaven.
‘Astroturfing the New Spam’
Thx BB for the link.
I reckon we should institute an Annual Cory Bernardi Award for Services to the Perversion of Public Debate via Astroturfing.
Any nominees?