News

Never has the risk of relying on dividends been more apparent than during these COVID times, in which we have seen these dividend cuts and deferrals.

James Kirby explains Modern Monetary Theory or MMT. Politicians dont’s use those words or initials but with the degree of stimulus we have experienced some form of MMT is with us, we think we know how this will play out, but the reality is we don’t.

Will Hamilton is referenced as is an article he wrote on the same subject in November of 2019.

US financial investment publication Barron’s and The Australian’s business magazine The Deal present Australia’s comprehensive list of financial advisers. The Top 100 Financial Advisers in Australia is based on an exhaustive, national survey. This list offers clients and advisers a unique guide to the leading practitioners in the sector. This package is a joint project between The Australian and Barron’s.

For many financial advisers sheer survival will be enough reward in what will continue to be a tough year. But for the elite professionals in this year’s Top 100 Financial Advisers list, 2020 could mark a new beginning.

In short, the sector is shell-shocked. In fact, it is shrinking as some financial institutions give up on the now maligned notion of vertical integration under which a company can create financial products, then sell those same products. The end result is a generation leaving the industry in the face of higher standards and an unavoidable one-size-fits-all national exam that every adviser in Australia must pass.

Garth Hu of Morgan Stanley Australia has taken the top spot in this year’s expanded list of Australia’s Top 100 financial advisers.

What makes these people the best advisers? Perhaps it is an unlikely quality — the imagination to put yourself in your client’s shoes.

Stage two is where the sharp personal impacts are felt.

Though we’re seeing signs of a bounceback in equity markets, we must be wary of the stage two effects where the economy grinds to a halt about two-thirds of the way up the V of our alleged V-shape recovery — and goes sideways.

I believe it will take some time until the full effect of the virus and the meaning of the subsequent lockdown of both people and the economy will be realised.

However long this plays out and however deep the impacts, we need to look at the here and now: Specifically, how do we position portfolios in the new environment?

The dramatic dividend cuts across the market remind us that share investing should be just one part of a diversified portfolio.

What does it mean for self-funded retirees? They have in effect experienced a pay cut, and unfortunately I believe there is more pain to come. When we enter reporting season in August we can expect to see more companies cut or suspend dividends.

Despite the rally in equities during April, the full impact of what we are experiencing in the real economy will take months to play out.

Damon Kitney mentions in an article published in The Australian some of the main points that came from our Thought Leaders Series Webinar with Peter Cooper on the 7th May 2020.