Show One Amount Column in Quicken

Quicken (2011) will, by default, display incoming and outgoing transaction amounts in separate columns. This might be convenient for accountant-types but sometimes the screen realestate is not plentiful and we might just want to see one amount column with sign '-' for negative numbers. And preferrably different color.

Fortunately, the new Quicken column options offer this possibility. 

There are columns for Deposit and Payment, but also Amount. Simply untick the Deposit and Payment columns and tick the Amount column. The column names are different for different types of accounts but they can be easily located by checking what the actual column titles are in the register.

The drawback here is that values cannot be typed directly into the Amount column. Fortunately, this is where quick switch between 1- and 2-column layout comes in handy. CTRL+2 is the shortcut key for switching to 2-column display, which can have separate Payment and Deposit columns for entering transactions. Then, pressing the hotkey again will switch to 1-column display that could have only the Amount field and more transactions listed, which provides a great overview of the recent account activity.

Currency Effect on International Investing

A great overview of relation between currency exchange rates and investment performance in international arena. This is noteworthy, considering current performance of Australian Dollar.

Read more:

http://internationalinvest.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/currencyeffect.htm

Taxation and Investment in Australia 2011

Deloitte's publication on taxation and investment in Australia in 2011:

http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Global/Local%20Assets/Documents/Tax/Intl%20Tax%20and%20Business%20Guides/2011/dtt_tax_guide_2011_Australia.pdf

Taxation Guide for Investors in Australia

General Taxation Arrangements section of the Taxation Guide for Investors, published by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, contains useful definitions of Dividend Imputation and Dividend Witholding Tax Exemption for Foreign Source Dividend Income.

http://www.ret.gov.au/resources/Documents/Minerals%20and%20Petroleum%20Exploration/Guide_for_%20Investors_18Taxation.pdf

Australian Equities - Tax Issues for Individual Investors

A paper that describes the Australian taxation system for investors, both resident and non-resident; the effect of franking credits on Australian equities, and compares it to the environment in the US and UK.

Australian Equities - Tax Issues for Individual Investors

http://www.winstonprivate.com.au/pdf/wp_australian_equities.pdf

Australian Fixed Interest Education

Here are few useful links on (fixed) interest rate securities on ASX. Fixed interest securities are available on Australian Stock Exchange and the texts below summarize what is available and then describe the basic characteristics of each type of security.

• Understanding ASX Interest Rate Securities (link)
• Corporate bonds/notes (link)

More resources at the Interest Rate Securities page on ASX (link).

Australian Manufacturing is Disappearing

A few interesting details on the stats for the Australian manufacturing industry.

Since 1990, manufacturing's share of Victorian gross state product has fallen from 16 per cent to 10 per cent and that decline is increasing. According to a paper sponsored by Visy, that will mean the loss of some 587,000 jobs in the next decade, 27 per cent of state household income and 24 per cent of state income.

Nationwide, manufacturing's share of income has declined from 15 to 8 per cent over the same period.

The practical effects are someting along the lines of

Infrastructure needs, and just what needs to be done to support the mining sector, will be part of the study, which will look at how tertiary education can be directed more at mining service sectors. In short, more IT and engineers and fewer lawyers.

Source:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/national-broadband-network-is-an-industry-game-changer/story-e6frg9if-1226077373546

Residents and Foreign Residents - Taxation Australia

Australian Taxation Office contains a text that illustrates several different edge situations, where it might not be clear whether a person is a resident for taxation purposes or not. It is a good reference, as I was not sure what my status would be in the next couple of months. From these guides, it appears I will still be Australian resident for tax purposes even though the travelling might be for an extended period of time.

Examples of residents and foreign residents

On booms, busts and investor psychology

There is a great article by Dr. Shane Oliver on booms, busts and investor psychology where he explains how the psychology affects the boom and bust cycles of the markets. This is just a rehearsal of the same ideas that were so painfully demonstrated during the GFC.

Reading article like this simply reinforces the ideas represented on this blog. Have in mind your long-term investment strategy (if investing for the long term, that is).

Booms, busts and investor psychology (link)

GDP Chart(s)

Google (as usual) has an awesome service to display publicly available data. This time the data comes from World Bank and represents World Development Indicators or the GDP of world's countries. 

I've selected a few to compare the world index, Australia, and India and China, then added Bosnia and Herzegovina. These are some interesting charts!

Link