I would like to start by wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year. It is likely that you are now enjoying a summer holiday and spending time with your family. Perhaps while you have a little spare time it might be good to spend a little time reviewing your investments and superannuation and see how they performed in 2010. If you are like me you have made a number of resolutions (some of which have already fallen by the wayside) but I encourage you to take the time to review your portfolios because it will be time well spent. As I have said in the past, many people spend more time comparison shopping for white goods than they spend considering their investments. With superannuation fast becoming one of your largest assets outside your home, it is essential that you make yourself aware of the overall returns after fees and charges. Every dollar of unnecessary fees you pay comes straight off your investment return and the compounding effect of these fees can seriously affect your overall retirement benefit.

During 2010 the Australian market as measured by the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index returned 1.6%. The MSCI which measured the performance of global markets returned 11.8% but the strong appreciation of the Australian dollar reduced this to -1.9% for Australian investors. During the last bull market the effect of high fees were masked by high returns but nowadays given the above returns some people are paying adviser fees and management fees that exceed their total return. I encourage you to pay a professional dollar based fee for advice and execute your own transactions as this will save you a substantial sum of money in the long run.

At 2020 we have always been innovators with products like our low cost separately managed account (BlueChip Series) or our wrap accounts that allows investors to execute their transaction with the OPTION of using an adviser.  I am pleased to announce that we have some very exciting innovations and products for 2011. I have been joined by a highly professional team of money mangers that collectively have over 100 years of investment management experience at the highest levels of the Australian wealth management industry. Next month we will be launching a new product that we feel fills a definite gap in the investment market place and I feel will be an excellent addition to many of our client’s portfolios. It is designed to provide superior returns which are not strongly correlated to the overall share market so it actually adds further diversification thereby reducing your portfolio’s risk. This innovative product will be launched in early February and I look forward to discussing it with you then.


Michael Lannon
Founder & Executive Director