Thoughts from the Frontline, online

Below is the link to Mauldin's Thoughts from the Frontline blog/newsletter. As I'm not getting it in the inbox, it is useful to have the link to check out via RSS reader or simply in a browser.

Thoughts From The Frontline - Investment Strategies, Analysis & Intelligence for Seasoned Investors.

Euro rate drops to 0.25%

ECB Cuts Key Rate to Record Low to Fight Deflation Threat - Bloomberg

Policy makers meeting in Frankfurt today reduced the main refinancing rate by a quarter point to 0.25 percent

TransferWise - great new service for small international transfers

I just read an article about TransferWise - (for me) a new currency exchange and international transfer service. The company is a startup and has excellent reviews from financial and computer magazines. It was started by "people who built Skype & PayPal". These are all pretty good references.

The fee for amounts of less than €200 is only about €1. For larger amounts there is extra fee of 0.5%.

Transfer Money Online | Send Money Abroad with TransferWise

Quicken System Requirements - Quicken Support

New system requirements for Quicken 2014.

Quicken System Requirements - Quicken Support: "Additional software:

Microsoft .NET 4.0 or later (included in Quicken installer)
Windows Installer 3.1 (included in Quicken installer)
Internet Explorer 6.0 or later (included in Quicken installer)"

Enlightening view from a former World Bank president

A 19-minute video about the changes in the world economics expected in the coming years.

WORLD BANKER MAKES STUNNING CONFESSION - YouTube

Loan Payment Calculators

Here are a few practical calculators for loan repayments:

• payment bot (link)
• bankrate (link)

Daily articles

Here is a collection of sites that make an interesting reading on economy:

• The Financial Times
• Bloomberg
• Reuters (link)
• Yahoo Finance
• The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website

Euro Market Information

Nice visual world-markets overview with a map:

• Finanzen (link)

Frankfurt stock exchange (link)

VIX Chart - Chicago Board Options Exchange SPX Volatility Index - Bloomberg

As VIX (Volatility Index) shot up today, here is a link to the chart for those who like a visual presentation of the value(s):

VIX Chart - Chicago Board Options Exchange SPX Volatility Index - Bloomberg

Annual Market Cycles

Here is the chart for annual market cycles for US and Australia, taken from 1985 until now.

Source: link

Asset Allocation

Below are several tools that help with asset allocation:

• (Vanguard) Index Portfolio Calculator (link)
• Vanguard Portfolio Asset Allocation models (link)

Skaffold > Stock Research

Skaffold occassionally provides free reports related to stock market in general or particular participants. Educational.
They calculate "intrinsic" market value and compare to prices.

Skaffold > Stock Research

eTrade Managed Funds Latest Notices

Latest Managed Funds Notices at eTrade Australia are located here.

UN Finance

Pension

• Pension Fund (link)
• Investment division (link)

Bosnian Finance

Links to Bosnian financial topics.

Banks

• Intesa Sao Paolo (link)
• ProCredit (link)
• Moja banka (link)
• Balkan Investment Bank (link)
• Sparkasse (link)

Page on Bosnia on Finance site - link.

Austrian financial news

http://austrianindependent.com/Finance

European Inflation Data

European annual inflation data, from Eurostat: link

ETF Tools

Tools

• Morningstar (link)
• Just ETF (link)
• ETF Info (link)

Markets:

• ETFs at Xetra (link)

Issuers/providers

• Vanguard
• iShares DE (link)
• Deka
• Source (link)
• ETF Lab (link)

Indices 

• STOXX (link)

Bonds

Some theoretical background on bonds as an investment vehicle.

• Bonds, Investopedia (link)
• Debt Instruments 101: An Introduction to Bonds (link)
• Investing in Bonds Europe (link)

More details on specific aspects of bonds:

• Interest calculation and yield curves (link)
• Coupon (link)
• Zero-coupon (link)

Australian Investment Links

News

Market related news

Stock Market 

Charts

Market Tools ● ASX Market Update

Dividend Information

Share Dividends (link)

Registries

Share Registries

Superannuation

Superannuation Funds

Why the EU is right on Cyprus | The Great Debate

Why the EU is right on Cyprus | The Great Debate: "Last November, the German foreign-intelligence agency reportedly warned that any EU bailout funds for Cyprus could simply end up in the pockets of Russian oligarchs, according to the newsweekly Der Spiegel. The German agency estimated the amount of Russian money in Cypriot banks at $26 billion – substantially more than the total EU bailout package. Indeed, one Russian businessman, Dmitry Rybolovlev, owns almost 10 percent of Bank of Cyprus, the island’s biggest. (The Bank of Cyprus is also one of the two banks whose soured loans to Greece sparked the crisis in the first place.)"

'via Blog this'

Australian Share Registries

Here are some Australian share registries. A share registry (or registrar) is a company that stores the details about share ownership. In practice they do a lot more so all the details about distributions are also stored there.

Advanced Share Registry Services - link

• AYF

BoardRoom, Investor Serve - link

• FET
• BYE

ComputerShare, Investor Centre - link

• ANZPC, ANZPD
• CTN
• CWNHA, (Crown) CWNHB
• ISG, iShares
• MPL
• NABPB
• VAF
• VEU, Vanguard
• VSO, Vanguard
• VHY, Vanguard
• VAP, Vanguard

Link Market Services, Investor Centre - link

• AGLHA
• CAB
• IPE
• MYO
• STW
• SUNPD, SUNPE
• WBCHA, WBCPD, WBCPE

Share and Fund (link)

Investment Education

Links to articles providing investment education

• 2020 Direct Investment: Investor Education

Bonds

Bonds

Australian Market-Related News

Below are some sites with market updates and commentary on Australian share market:

• IG Markets (link)
• News.com.au Market Data (link), has a world map with indices
• Business Spectator (link)
• The Motley Fool (link)
• The Bull (link)
• Trading Room (link)
• Australian Financial Review (link)
• SMH Business Day (link)

Managed Funds

• Funds Focus (link)

Australian Market Tools

Here are some publicly available tools, useful for analyzing ETFs and mutual funds available in Australia.

Current prices

IG Markets

Detailed analysis, income

eTrade
Bloomberg Market Data
Reuters market data

ETFs

ASX Market Update
ETF Performance Table, Morningstar

Managed Funds

Invest Smart mutual funds
Compare Funds
Morningstar Adviser

General

• Market Oracle

International Money Transfer

XE Trade
Best rates, including international transfer fees. ACH/EFT transfer is free.

Tranzfers (link) - OzForex, UKForex
Decent rates. Fees are listed here.

FXCompared
Compare other services.


Related to Online Payments and Transfers.

Australian Superannuation Funds

Some of the lowest fees (as per 2012 article)

• First State Super (link, members)

Good source of information is Selecting Super (link).

Market Update - Australian Securities Exchange - ASX

On this page, ASX publishes monthly update on ETFs. This provides details on the range of ETFs available in Australia, and additional data like their management fees and spreads.

Market Update - Australian Securities Exchange - ASX

BitCoin

BitCoin is a virtual currency.
Here are some links to related concepts.

Good introduction
GuiMiner (link)

Mining Software
Phoenix (link)

Exchange
Mt.Gox (link)

Exchange Rate
BitCoin Charts (link)

phoenix2/phoenix - BitCoin mining software

Repository for Phoenix, BitCoin mining software is below:
phoenix2/phoenix · GitHub

iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

iShares is one of the Australian ETF providers.

iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

Funds offered:

• International, developed
• EAFE (developed) - IVE
• Singapore - ISG
• International, emerging markets:
• Emerging markets - IEM
• Korea - IKO
• BRIC - IBK

BlackRock managed funds

BlackRock managed funds. Many of these are index funds with low annual management fee.

BlackRock - Overview

List of ETFs available in Australia

ASX has a list of all ETPs (Exchange-Traded Products) - here.
This list contains Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and similar products.

Rent vs Buy

Below are some calculators for 'rent vs buy' consideration:

• NY Times (link)
• Yahoo (link)

Life in Norway

Here is an article in Serbian about basic principles of living in Norway:
http://www.bizlife.rs/vesti/vest/53164/kako-se-dobro-zivi-cetiri-lekcije-od-norvezana.html
Use Google Translate to translate into your language.

Bloomberg Quote Research

Market research tool available from Bloomberg. Displays the key fundamentals about securities. Australian securities are suffixed with ":AU".

Bloomberg Market Data