Is Commbank’s Pocket a New ‘Killer App’ for Investors?

 

Disclaimer: This article is informative in purpose and does not constitute financial advice.  The author urges you to obtain professional advice before pursuing any financial investment.

 

Recent days have seen the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) launch a new micro investing app. Joining apps like Raiz (previously Acorns), Spaceship Voyager, and others that seek to make it easy for everyone to grab a stake in the sharemarket for a minimal investment.

Given the CBA is a household name in Australia, could the Bank’s decision to get into this field make this release a new ‘killer app’? And what does the release of Pocket tell us about the convergence of traditional investment and user friendly digital technology right now?

What Pocket And Apps Like It Do

Put simply, Pocket provides an easy way for investors to start investing.  Starting at $50, customers can buy units in an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). With 7 funds currently offered by the app that range from exposure to tech companies and sustainability leaders, to emerging markets and top 200 on the Australian Stock Exchange.

As an exchange-traded fund (ETF) isn’t an individual stock but a collection of them pooled together, ETFs … Click to continue reading

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What Does GoPro’s Decline and Kodak’s Comeback Mean for the Future of Video?

Disclaimer: This article is informative in purpose and does not constitute financial advice.  The author urges you to obtain professional advice before pursuing any financial investment.


January saw two particularly big stories in the world of cameras. Stories that would have been laughable just a few short years ago. The details of the stories is where the real significance comes in, but in just one sentence the stories at are their most scintillating.

This month GoPro announced plans to cut 20 percent of its workforce on January 8, as Kodak stock rose 147 per cent on January 9. Talk about your plot twists, eh?

Now, let’s be clear. The stories are not directly related to one another. Sure, the folks at GoPro may have thought till recently that Kodak were old dinosaurs. And OK, they may still be a veteran or two at Kodak who is still marveling at the Super 8, unsure what this GoPro fuss is.

Nonetheless, beyond the headlines these stories are related, and do speak to deeper trends. Let’s look at these a little more now.

Goodbye GoPro?

Like what Tesla is to electric cars, GoPro has been to the camera industry. A name not only Click to continue reading

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Dominos’ Rise as Eagle Boys Fall: An End to Australia’s Independent Pizza Shop?

Disclaimer: This article is informative in purpose and does not constitute financial advice.  The author urges you to obtain professional advice before pursuing any financial investment.

 

‘The Lucky Country’ Isn’t Just a Saying

Australia is a fascinating fishbowl when it comes to economic policy. The stunning fact that belies so much about the Great Southern Land is with around just 25 million people its total population is smaller than single US states like California or Texas, and though many fellow Asian nations – like Indonesia, South Korea and Japan – are smaller in land size, they hold a far greater population.

Yet both the Australian nation as a whole and its citizens personally have long enjoyed a high standard of living and high level of personal wealth, AKA the ‘Middle Class Success Story’.

Australia has often achieved remarkable feats in the global economy – such as having the GFC largely bypass its shores as it wreaked havoc on other world economies – while sometimes leaving Australian consumers subject to questionable charges that may not fly elsewhere. Such as Adobe’s long held huge local markup on software leading many to think Australia is seen as a ‘Treasure Island’ by many Click to continue reading

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Melbourne and Sydney Property Markets vs the World

Disclaimer: This article is informative in purpose and does not constitute financial advice.  The author urges you to obtain professional advice before pursuing any financial investment.

Large-scale investment from Asia and particularly China is not confined to Australia. Yet, skim some local headlines on your phone or pick up any Sunday morning paper and you’d be hard-pressed to find a mention of the word that is crucial to any report on the trend: context.

Certainly, both the Melbourne and Sydney property markets have been going through a certifiable surge in recent months and years. Yet, neither Melbourne nor Sydney nor wider Australia is unique in this regard. At all.

Simply put, foreign investment by Chinese investors is immense the world over right now. From Melbourne and Sydney to London,  New York, Toronto and beyond. Chinese investment is big business. To most this is not news, but now and then some of the more sensationalist coverage in Australian media deploys a ‘blind spot’ this reality. So, here now a ‘just in case’ overview…

The “China Challenge” for Australia’s economy

For those yet to encounter the debate surrounding Chinese investment in Australia it is largely is as follows. While Click to continue reading

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