THE LUCKY COUNTRY “The Lucky Country” sounds like a nice cuddly description of Australia, but it isn’t. In fact it’s a rather cynical dig. It comes from the title of a Professor Donald Horne book in 1964 called "The Lucky Country". The point he was trying to make was that Australia was “Lucky” rather than…
I have four kids. Three of them are now driving, which means that in the last five years we have gone from a ratio of two taxi drivers being taken for granted by four passengers to five taxi drivers and one passenger. While that has been a huge burden off our taxi driving duties, it…
Each week ASIC publishes a list of stocks that have been “Sold short”. In basic terms it means stocks that have been sold by people who don’t own them. It is not that easy to genuinely short a stock. You can do something similar through CFD accounts which are simply a bet on a price…
How old would you be if you didn't know the day you were born? The Mule is a film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood is now 93 and plays the lead role as a grumpy old man who goes out kicking. It leaves you wondering whether the film doesn’t reflect a lot of…
I have an article in The Age Money section. It's one to send to your kids. Click below and read it online (it helps it go viral), or you can read it below. Or just copy and paste the image and the link and send it to the kids by email. https://www.theage.com.au/money/investing/the-best-investment-in-the-whole-world-20180605-p4zjkr.html I have been…
Click here to access today's Marcus Today newsletter Market summary ASX 200 up 15 to 5998 in quiet thin trade. High 6015 Low 5990. Dastyari quits Senate. ANZ sells Life business. TCL – Capital raise. AUD steady at 75.33c US futures up 21. Bitcoin CBOE futures kick off. System crashes. Bitcoin surging in volatile trading…
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EQUITIES AND PROPERTY I cannot tell you how many times I have read that you double your money in Australian property investment every ten years. It is the core assumption in all property marketing it seems. Of course to make any money out of that implied 7 per cent return per…
I wrote this article a few years ago – it might have been titled "Why are we here?". Ithaca is the island in Greece that Odysseus had so much trouble returning to in Homer’s Odyssey. On his way, he survives run-ins with the Cicones, Polyphemus (Cyclops to you), Circe, the Sirens, Scylla, the winds of…
This was written in 2014…. A friend is trying to decide whether to send their child to the local Catholic School or the local Private School. They have a choice and have asked me to do a few numbers. Here’s the benefit of having the Lord by your side: If you assume that all other…
Those Ads showing 20-year-olds stepping out of limousines in New York trading forex on their mobile phone are one the most fantastic advertising deceptions you will ever see.
