Overview for international investors on why and how to invest in Australia via American Depository Receipts (ADRs), index funds, ETFs and direct investing.

When thinking about investing in Australia most international investors first think of mining. They may be surprised to find that “Australia’s economy is now a service-based economy, with service industries accounting for around 70 per cent of total gross value added. The finance and insurance industry is larger than the booming mining sector…”

The ten best Australian business sites for news, data and opinion on Australian companies and the economy.

S&P/ASX 200 Sector Returns Month and Year to Date. The ASX continues to power higher, climbing a wall of worry with a helpful leg up from from those looking to call a market top. Yeah the market is overbought, but the trend is your friend and you don’t want to fight your friends.

Strategies to lock in ANZ profits form the share purchase plan. Including selling calls, buying puts and CFDs. Plus the dangers of a cash rich company.

Using the Kelly Formula for Portfolio Management:

I have two main uses for the Kelly formula, neither of which are the intended purpose. My third and less important use is the intended purpose of Kelly, an aid in determining my indiviudal investment size.

I use Kelly as a comparitive tool and as and aid to focusing on probabilities, risk and returns. Before we dive into each of those I should explain how I use a method that is designed to be used with binary outcomes with known odds for investing, where their are multiple possible outcomes with unknown odds.

At the bottom I link some great articles from Ed Thorp, John Kelly, Michael Mauboussin and Paul Samuelson

Last night, just when I wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep. my partner asked me how risky our investments are. As my dearest almost never asks about our investments I found this particular question and its timing quite bewildering. Bloody mass media and credit crunch.

To be a successful investor you must focus on money management, risk management and portfolio management. Buy to sell and look for singles not home runs.

Does sector rotation work? Plus S&P rebuts Jeremy Siegel.

Someone is always left holding the bag. This is the same concept as the oft quoted patsy at the poker table.
If you invest late into trends then you have a higher probability of being that patsy.
People investing late in trends should examine if they suffer from herd mentality, confirmation bias etc. While numerous studies show momentum strategies are successful, all those strategies attempt to identify major trends early on. One of the most basis the death cross of the 50dMA crossing below the 200day shows when getting on board this …

Commonwealth bank call their new Capital Series Australia a new dimension in structured investments. They are having a laugh. Investors should avoid this product like the plague.