Recent content by JohnMichael

Yeah... but that's because they're our allies, not because they're necessarily a good force in the world or anything. Whether or not they help us is a side issue. If you wanted to talk about whether they're "good" or "evil", you have to see how they treat their enemies, not their friends.

Haha this thread is hilariously all over the place. War, honey, volcanoes, investing, socialism! :P Somersoft pays off with the entertainment factor tonight

I am about 1 percent as worried about ISIS as about China. The West worries far too much about that sort of thing. Think about it - explain ISIS extremists plan to take over China? Oh yeah, wait, the whole country and growing gigantic economy doesn't give a **** about ISIS, would never be...

IMO large scale conflict is very unlikely. However there are some changing dynamics which make the possibilities there. The unchallenged hegemony of the US over the last three quarters of a century, might finally be changing. I'm talking about China here, not Russia. China now diverting...

An article with some great general points about investing IMO http://www.smh.com.au/business/motley-fool/what-ive-learned-about-investing-20140617-3aazp.html Not really disagreeing with the points above, but a different slant on it:

Pete Wargent on how Elizabeth has been one of the worst performing capital city regions in the Australia over the last few years: http://petewargent.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/property-boom-winners-and-losers.html Kind of just makes the contrarian me want to invest there

^ What you're describing doesn't sound like dollar cost averaging at all though

I was on the fence as to whether or not you were legit, but then that Qantas call had me confused again. In case you are legit, - airlines are terrible investments! Sure, QAN has been a great trade at the moment due to the oil price drop. And maybe they will continue to rise in the short...

For all those people who are interested in quitting work earlier than most, and yet are stating that savings isn't as important as what you earn: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/...

Do they? All the ones I've seen look like the add up to a 50/50 split Australian shares / International. Once you take into account the emerging markets and international small companies I definitely agree with this part - this is what I would be doing!

Im pretty sure theres a thread on somersoft called "share trading" or something similar, which you might find more specific responses in

Take any random asset allocation numbers that are being thrown at you via the internet as exactly that - random numbers. Personally at that level of income, I'd think about how much I liked my job. A few years at 400K well invested and you're set for life, and suddenly your time is much more...

So I had a look at BKI, and it looks pretty good to me ' - MER of 0.16% - this is pretty much the same as VAS - consistently paid a growing dividend - as Falcon said with AFIC, looks like they didn't cut dividends during the GFC - mostly the banks, large caps, with some mid cap picks in...

Thanks equitymate for the LIC suggestions, ill be checking those out. Ill have a look at BKI as well

Hehe! I think smooching is something else...