Month: September 2018

APRA … its even better than OPRAH

from Source

Hang on Slack Investor … What are you saying? Oprah, the font of lifestyle guidance … has a rival! How can the Australian regulatory authority APRA match Oprah wisdom that spouts such useful advice as this …

You can either see yourself as a wave in the ocean – or you can see yourself as the ocean – Oprah Winfrey – Source

Wheras Oprah has been an inspiration to millions, Slack Investor has a different, more researched, inspiration … he has fallen in love with an Australian statutory body – APRA is the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Australia’s total superannuation assets rate of return – From APRA report 

Oh APRA …. I do love you … You are the Ocean … it’s the indifference that you show me … the complete lack of spin … just information …. Oooohhh! you may have let us down in the distant past (HIH collapse, 2001),  but your new muscular stance on differentiating between superannuation products is appealing … it gives me hope for all statutory bodies. One of APRA’s duties is to collect information on the superannuation sector and report. They report the total superannuation assets in Australia grew to $2.7 trillion in the year to June 2018. The Self Managed Super sector has a staggering 27.7% of these funds. Slack Investor is gladly part of this self managed sector and enjoys the flexibility of an SMSF. Last years average rate of return for all super funds was almost 8%.

The chart shows some great annualized Australian super returns for the past 5 -years of 7.9% 

The Productivity Commissioner and Slack Investor hero Karen Chester argues that there is a need for the Super system to look after the default member who is likely to remain disengaged.

“what workers need is not “bells and whistles” – which bring with them higher fees – but “low-cost, top performers” with a “balanced investment strategy” Karen Chester From The Guardian

From APRA – Source

APRA continues to monitor performance of Industry vs Retail Funds and the yearly percentage advantage of having Industry funds(rather than Retail) is shown above.

While we wait for the politicians to act on these matters, get engaged and consolidate your super into one fund – and it should probably be an Industry fund. If Slack Investor can’t motivate you – then perhaps Oprah can … Right On Oprah!

“If you’re sitting around waiting on somebody to save you, to fix you, to even help you, you are wasting your time because only you have the power to take responsibility to move your life forward.” Oprah Winfrey – Source

August 2018 – End of Month Update … and the recent advantage of being Slack

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

Power to the US – It might be bewildering from afar (and probably from within!) – but Wall St booms again with a 3.0% monthly rise. A small rise in the Australian Index (+0.6%), and the UK Index sinks with a -4.1% fall. All Markets are staying clear of their designated stop loss limits – So Slack Investor puts away any Index decisions for another month.

All Index pages and charts  have been updated to reflect the monthly changes – (ASX Index, UK Index, US Index).

A recent bit of Beneficial Slackness

Slack Investor as long been a fan of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If”  and it is worth a read in full. But in particular the stanza

“... If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

And treat those two impostors just the same; … ”     

–  Rudyard Kipling -1910 –  Source

I like to think Slack Investor is in tune with the ebbs and flows of fortune – and he was on the good side of a stroke of luck this past week. In my last monthly update July 2018 I wrote of my worry with my holding of Altium (ALU) shares. I feared that the declining share price in July might indicate that there was bad news ahead at their reporting date. The upshot of the post was that I would leave this sort of stuff to the day traders and continue with the Slack plan of only making sell decisions at the end of the month.

The imposter of trumph prevailed on this occasion with a rise of ALU share price of over 30% on the day of their positive results announcement (FY18 Revenue up 26%).

Altium Daily share chart at 02/09/2018 – From Incredible Charts

With an estimated 2019 P/E ratio of 53.4, there is no doubt that the stock is relatively expensive. But, it is a growth stock with some very good tail winds. With the “internet of things” there will be more and more household appliances connected to the internet and to each another.

The current Australian household has an average of 14 connected devices under the one roof – this is expected to grow to over 30 devices by the year 2021. – from Andrew Mitchell – Livewire

Altium sells design software for printed circuit boards (PCB) which appear in all of these devices. ALU has been increasing its market share for PCB design software from 18% to 22% in this past year – and aims for 30% by 2025. These are good omens and I am happy to be an owner of ALU. To risk one more quote from “If”

If you can keep your head when all about you   
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;
–  Rudyard Kipling -1910 –  Source
Yes Mr Kipling I will keep my head – and make allowance in a Slack way – by adjusting my monthly stop loss upwards for ALU to $24.85.