Sunday 7 November 2010

Quicken 2011 Manual Updates

Instructions on how to manually update the new Quicken 2011 are here. The page lists what the latest version of the Quicken patch is so you can check manually. The link to the latest patch is provided, as usual.

Saturday 30 October 2010

Quicken Inner Circle

Quicken Inner Circle (link) - is a site for feedback on Quicken product. The latest news can be found there and one can submit feedback and ideas regarding Quicken products.

Saturday 24 July 2010

Alan Kohler: the market's four key threats - ASX - Australian Securities Exchange

Another important point from Kohler's analysis:

Housing bubble

But isn't Australia's housing market in a bubble that is destined to collapse, bringing the whole Oz of Cards down? In late June, US investment legend Jereny Grantham, co-founder of GMO, said: "You cannot possibly miss it. The price of housing typically trades about 3.5 times family income and in a bubble it goes to 6 or … 7.5 (times). Australia is having one now. You are at near 7.5 times family income … which suggests you are twice the size that you should be."


Alan Kohler: the market's four key threats - ASX - Australian Securities Exchange

Alan Kohler: the market's four key threats - ASX - Australian Securities Exchange

America is just one of us, now...

Alan Kohler: the market's four key threats - ASX - Australian Securities Exchange

"Over the final weekend in June, the G20 leaders, including President Obama, agreed to halve their budget deficits by 2013. That confirms the end of fiscal stimulus and the beginning of an era of fiscal tightening. That goes double for states such as California and Illinois, which are just about broke.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 46 states have budget deficits that add up to US$112 billion; basically they are in the same mess as Greece.

The Federal Reserve cannot cut interest rates any more, so if there is a problem, the US economy is on its own. And, Houston, there is a problem. Employment growth is weakening, durable goods orders fell more than expected in late June, the ISM manufacturing index is falling, and capital expenditure is down.

But most of all, housing is in trouble. New-home sales crashed 30 per cent in May to a record low and the median price fell 1 per cent that month to US$200,900 - and is now down 10 per cent on a year ago. The median price has not been this low since December 2003. It is taking builders a record 14.2 months to sell a house."

Saturday 29 May 2010

Gloomy Forecasts for Russia

From John Mauldin's newsletter:
"Russia is facing a very serious problem over the next 20 years that will require either a significant increase in productivity or large immigration to stave off a collapsing economy. Russia's population has declined by almost 7 million in the last 19 years to 142 million. UN estimates are that it may shrink by about a third in the next 40 years. "

Saturday 10 April 2010

Term deposit investment strategies from RaboPlus Australia

Term deposit investment strategies from RaboPlus Australia
RaboPlus has a nice section on term deposits on their web site. If you are considering investing in term deposits, read the 'laddering' strategy description on the page linked above.
The interest rate rise in Australia is attracting more investors as of late but so are probably other asset classes.

Sunday 28 March 2010

Saturation Point? Google Furniture Index

Google Furniture Index - Google Finance
If you look at the link above, you may notice the downward trend in almost any area. Considering that the population continues to grow, one would expect a slow increase in demand from year to year. However, the trend from 2004 to 2010 is a downward one. That is a bit paradoxical and begs for the question - are we reaching the saturation point?
I would be glad if we were. That would mean we were to slowly get out of the consumerism age. Hopefully, what comes next is better for all of us.

Thursday 4 March 2010

Friday 29 January 2010

Easy labels mask the complexity of growing up gen Y - Investment News

Easy labels mask the complexity of growing up gen Y - Investment News

After the Global Financial Crisis and the recession (well, some countries technically haven't experienced it) I find a few topics interesting enough to write about. The markets have rebounded but the long-term performance is still under a question mark. The income returns have been poor unless you were a risk taker and extremely lucky to buy at the right time and reap the rewards.

However, the world is changing and there are some signs and thoughts as to where it is going. The article above portrays an era of Generation Y in Australia. Those times may have gone for good and, as the article concludes, it may be exciting to learn how to live a different lifestyle.

Friday 15 January 2010

Bailout Hearings

The bailout hearings have started in the US. About time and on topic! Thorough examination is more than welcome as the price of the bailouts is enormous and the question is whether the public should be paying for it.

These are hard moral questions and it is interesting to watch how they proceed.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/3010b7e0-ffa1-11de-921f-00144feabdc0.htm?ftcamp=Late_headline2/NL/APJan2010/Vanilla_bns_ap/0/