February, 2017 | Slack Investor

2017 February Monthly Update

Slack Investor remains IN for US, UK, and Australian index shares.

Please forgive the early call … but all markets had an ebullient month … and I am off on a holiday. The great advantage of a monthly system for index funds is that no decisions need be made until early April after analysing the end of March charts.

February 2017 has seen rises, in the 3 markets that Slack Investor follows. I am always glad to be able to raise the stop loss on any of my index funds in a hope to trap any hard fought gains. The US market (SPY) had a rules-based rise in stop loss from 199 to 208 – small … but every little bit counts!

The SPY is 236.74 at the ‘end’ of February – a 140% increase since the initial buy. The Australian, and UK markets were bought much more recently (2016) and have had modest increases of, respectively, 8.6% and 8.5%. All rises are based on end of month prices only – Dividends and transaction costs are not included.

I beseech dear readers to mine further on the Slack investor ASX Index, US Index and UK Index pages for updated details – and a look at the charts. Next monthly index update early in April.

I WISH I could save on petrol

What is it about people and petrol prices? … OK …not all people!

However, It does qualify as a “Barbecue Stopper” (Thanks Fiona Katauskas … and Tony Abbott?) when the petrol price suddenly rises or falls, its in the news and people talk. It can start up some irrational behaviour. I did know a bloke who would fill up jerrycans of petrol on any fuel price reduction.

Slack Investor has been guilty of it himself … driving across town to save 4c per litre … and perhaps using the amount of fuel that I am supposedly saving! Fuel prices are important to Australians as only a few Australian cities have great public transport networks – and the car is a necessary evil, and petrol is a non-discretionary expense, in a lot of cases.

WISH cards are gift cards that can be purchased at a 5% discount at a variety of places I get mine through RACQ, a local motoring organisation that has member discounts. You apply online and you can get a physical WISH card or an e-gift card number that you can use straight away at any Woolworths aligned store or petrol station.

5% discount doesn’t sound like much – Why would you bother? – I would usually agree, but, if there is no inconvenience to using the card, Why Not!

Let me give you an example. My current cost for petrol is $1.44 per litre, using the e-gift card (which I buy $500 lots and hide in my car! …I admit, there is some risk here … but so far so good!). The 5% discount is a saving of over 7c per litre – which can be added to any other loyalty discount (usually 4c per litre).

Now, Slack Investor does not want to create the impression that he is excessively frugal – I enjoy spending money on things that I like e.g., travel. However, all day to day expenses should be examined in a rational way so that you can then use any savings to do the things you enjoy – or, to increment your way towards financial independence.

2017 January Monthly Update

Slack Investor remains IN for US, UK, and Australian index shares.

January 2017 has seen no great plunges, or rises, in the 3 markets that Slack Investor follows. In these crazy times of Trumpenomics, I am naturally nervous – but our stop losses have held for another month.

I am particularly watchful 0f the US market as it is very deep into a bull run. Slack Investor bought in to the US stocks through the ASX listed SPY – an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that emulates the US top 500 companies. The initial investment was at 98.81 in July 2009 on a monthly Directional Movement Index (DMI) BUY signal. The SPY is 227.53 at the end of January – a 130% increase since the initial buy – a staggering annual average performance rate of over 17%!

The Australian, and UK markets were bought much more recently (2016) and have had modest increases of, respectively, 5.7% and 5.6% .

There are plenty of opinions on where the various markets will be heading in 2017, Slack Investor will admit to being in the first category of investors as described by the American financial academic William Bernstein,

“ There are two kinds of investors, be they large or small: those who don’t know where the market is headed, and those who don’t know that they don’t know. Then again, there is a third type of investor –the investment professional, who indeed knows that he or she doesn’t know, but whose livelihood depends upon appearing to know.”

So, Slack Investor tries to follow objective rules that define his stop losses on a monthly basis knowing the markets will do what they do and he can react accordingly. In the mean time, he can relax for another month!

Normally, I would beseech dear readers to mine further on the Slack investor ASX Index, US Index and UK Index pages for updated details – however, due to technical difficulties, these pages, and the Portfolio page, will not be updated this month – they will be updated for the 2017 February monthly update, early in March.