Enough Wealth

Sunday, 19 July 2009

Cancelled my Kogan Full HD 1080p camcorder order

I was suffering a bit of buyer's remorse even as I wrote my post about ordering a Kogan Full HD 1080p camcorder two days ago! The thought that KMart may be selling an identical product for around half price made me wonder about the value for money of this product, despite the "low" price for a HD system. Later that evening I viewed some YouTube footage that had been recorded using a Kogan HD 1080P, and it looked pretty poor compared to what I'd previously obtained from my old Panasonic miniDV camcorder. In fact, it looked a lot like the results I can already get the 'pocket' camcorder I bought from Aldi last year! Higher resolution (2.14 mp) doesn't count for much if colour, focus and brightness are poor. My old Panasonic SD camcorder is SD PAL, so it's resolution is around 0.8 mp, but the DV recording is almost loss-less, whereas the HD Kogan recordings showed significant jpeg compression effects. Also, the Panasonic camera has superior optical zoom, colour balance and low light performance compared to the Kogan.

The final straw was when Kogan emailed me to advise that the unit was going to be shipped out two weeks later than had been advertised when I placed my order! Their website has now been updated with the new delivery date, but I think it's really poor customer service to only update the advertised shipping date the day AFTER you've sold out the current shipment. I emailed a request to cancel my order and they sent back a confirmation of my order cancellation and credit card refund within a couple of hours.

Instead of getting a new camcorder I've now ordered two "PANASONIC CGR-D16" (compatible) camcorder replacement batteries (Li-ion, 7.20 V, 3000.00 mAh) for $48 (+$10 postage) from e-Store.net.au. My old battery was only 1700 mAh, and lasted around 1 hour recording time when it was brand new, so these new batteries should each be able to record a full 90 minute mini-DV tape on a full charge. Hopefully using new batteries (and making use of my head cleaning tape) will be enough to get my Panasonic camcorder back in business for a few more years. So, instead of playing with a new Kogan camcorder, I'll spend some time trying to download my existing mini-DV tapes onto my PC via firewire, editing the videos and buring some DVDs. I've seen reports that the DV-out on the Panasonic NV-DS15 isn't sufficient for transferring files to a PC, as DV-in is also required, but I find that hard to believe, given that my camcorder came bundled with a bonus video editing application (that I've never used). Once the new batteries have arrived (and I find the firewire cable for my Panasonic NV-DS15) and have a go at downloading some recordings using Vista Movie Maker. 9-yo DS1 has done some video editing experience (including some "green screen" special effects!) on footage he recorded using his digital camera, so I'll probably have to get some lessons from him ;)

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

A new HD camcorder

About eight years ago I bought a Panasonic NV-DS15 mini-DV camcorder (just after DS1 was born), and was very happy with the quality of the recordings. However, problems developed while we travelling in Europe last year - the camera battery would only last 10-15 minutes between overnight charges, and the tapes got stuck during reloading a couple of times. I had been thinking of just buying a new battery (a "compatible" battery would probably cost around $50), but if that hadn't fixed the tape loading problems a service would end up costing as much as buying a new camera!

I'd also considered buying a new mini-DV format camcorder, to maintain compatibility with the existing tape collecting (and to use up my stock of blank tapes), but the cheapest models still cost around $200, and mini-DV isn't cutting-edge technology by any stretch of the imagination.

In the end I decided to order a Kogan "Full HD" digital camcorder online for around $380 (after a 5% discount coupon code, plus shipping). New stock (which has HDMI output) is due to ship on 24 July, so I expect to have the camera to play with by the end of this month. Aside from the relatively low price for getting 1920x1080 resolution, this camcorder hasn't got a great feature-set, and reviews have highlighted it's budget-level build quality. There are also some limitations that would be intolerable on a higher-priced product, such as no external mic facility, the internal mic being side-mounted, a slow, modest 5x optical zoom, and the fact that the automatic image stabilization only works in standard definition mode, not when operating in HD resolution mode. However, I honestly don't expect to be bothered by many of these missing or limited features. After all, I never used an external mic with my previous SD digital camcorder, hardly ever used a tripod mount, and only used the IR remote control unit once or twice!

One big plus is that the Kogan provides USB connectivity to download the MOV files to my PC, or I can just swap out the SD card in the same way as my digital SLR camera. I never got around to downloading my mini-DV recordings to my PC using the firewire connector (even though I paid a few dollars extra to get a firewire port on my Dell desktop PC), so the new camcorder will make it more likely I'll actually edit some of my home movies in future.

I'll be interested to see what the battery life is like under 'real' conditions. One review was critical, but according to the specs it should be reasonable: Li-ion 3.7V 1700mAh Rechargeable Battery (with 2-3 hours recording time). I'll be happy to get one hour one a full charge, which is similar to my old camera when the battery was brand new. I've no idea how long a full recharge will take.

The Kogan camcorder has a seven day money back guarantee, so I'll give it a work out the first weekend after it arrives and decide whether or not to keep it.

ps. Just after I'd ordered the Kogan camcorder online, I came across a link that showed the same camcorder (? apparently - but re badged as Audiosonic) had been on sale for $199 (normally $279) from KMart back in June! I'm not sure if KMart still sells this camcorder, but it may be worth looking for it in KMart before my order gets shipped on the 24th.

Once I've had a play with the camcorder I'll post a review.

Thursday, 9 July 2009

Free money for the kids

The latest issue of Money magazine has a special offer - a coupon for a $50 "Money for Jam" bonus deposit when a new NAB Smart Junior Saver Account is opened before the end of August. DW dropped in to a NAB branch and opened accounts for DS1 and DS2. She deposited $20 into each account, and the next day the $50 bonus had been credited.

These accounts have no fees and normally earn 1% pa interest. The interest rate goes up by another 1.35% pa for months where there's a deposit and no withdrawal. The kid's also got a free soccer ball money box each ;)

PS. An original coupon is required, but photocopies are accepted for additional accounts opened in the same family.

Sunday, 5 July 2009

Net Worth Update: June 2009

My net worth as at 30 June had increased a little (up $2,898, or +0.45% for the month) to $646,571.

My retirement account gained $5,440 (+2.05%) to $270,511, and the estimated valuations for my half of our real estate assets (house and investment property) were up $8,969 (+1.18%) to $766,806). My employers superannuation contributions for April-June should be processed in July, which will boost next months NW figure a bit.

However, much of these gains were offset by a drop in the value of my leveraged stock portfolio down by -$11,558 for the month to have a net value of -$27,716. The stock market losses were exaggerated by some of the margin loan interest for the 2009/10 financial year being capitalised during June.

Saturday, 27 June 2009

Pensioners hold advisor 'accountable' for bad advice

An interesting story regarding the back-lash some advisers are experiencing due to the GFC. I'm glad the advisor escaped with just a few broken ribs, but I think the 'furious five' old-age pensioners who kidnapped and tortured their financial advisor for losing their savings by investing in a failed Florida property scheme will probably end up with the short end of the stick. Apart from still being out of pocket $4.1 million, the five pensioners are now facing up to 15 years jail time for hostage taking and torture.

I wonder if the advisor invested (and lost) any of his own money in the dodgy Florida property scheme, or if he just made money (via fees) by getting his German "clients" (marks) to "invest". It would be interesting to know the details regarding his actions - was he licenced to give financial advice, what advice did he give the pensioners regarding this investment (risk, returns etc.), and was the advice he gave "suitable" for his clients given their age, risk-tolerance, need for diversification, understanding of the investment. It appears to be another example of how high fees paid to advisers by risky investment schemes can lead to massive conflicts of interest and unsuitable advice being provided to clients.

Friday, 19 June 2009

CDF wind-up payment arrived

As announced last month, the wind-up of the Commonwealth Diversified Share Fund (CDF) was completed yesterday, with payment of $1.0387 per share made to all remaining shareholders. I'm glad that I borrowed some money to meet the margin call that resulted from Comsec Margin Lending reducing the margin value of this share to 0% on 17 May, otherwise I would have only received around $0.96 per share selling the shares on-market during late May.

By maintaining my shareholding until the termination date (1 June) and getting paid out the full NAV on 18 June, I received an extra 8% or so - around $5,136 - compared with having the shares sold out by Comsec in late May to meet the margin call.

Some smart operators made a killing by buying up CDF shares in late May. For example, Weiss Capital made around $200,000 by buying CDF shares for around $0.96 in the last two weeks of May and receiving $1.0387 per share yesterday. 8% ROI in one month with minimal risk is a pretty canny investment. If I'd had spare cash I would have bought some CDF shares as well.

I am less impressed that CBA also became a substantial shareholder during late May. Their share transactions notification shows a lot of buying and selling by Value Nominees (ie. Comsec Margin Lending) which I suspect was mostly due to Comsec cutting the Margin Lending Value of CDF shares from 70% to 0% on 17 May. However, CBA ended up with a net increase in CDF shares of around 2.5m shares, which also gave them a nice profit when the fund was wound up. Perhaps I should ask ASIC to look into the behaviour of CBA Bank, Comsec and CDF Fund regarding possible conflict of interest issues regarding these related parties and their clients/shareholders?

No pay rise this year

My company goes through it's annual performance review/pay rise process every June - putting new pay rates in place for the new financial year starting 1 July. This year the boss sent out an email to all staff saying that although the company was weathering the GFC pretty well and didn't need to lay off any staff, it was facing uncertain times and had to keep a close eye on costs until at least the end of this calendar year. So there would be no "across the board" cost-of-living pay rise, and all managers were instructed that there would be no promotions just to move people to a higher pay grade.

I'm not fussed about the lack of a pay increase this year, as the tax cuts coming into effect on July 1 will boost my take home pay slightly, and the cuts in mortgage interest rates over the past year have reduced our non-discretionary expenses considerably.

Sunday, 14 June 2009

ANZ SPP - a windfall?

DS1 and I both received the paperwork for the ANZ Bank's Share Purchase Plan. The maximum application amount is $15,000 and the share price is a maximum of $14.40 per share (it's unlikely to be less than this as the current share price is 20% above that level). I have around $20,000 worth of ANZ in my leveraged equities portfolio and will use the cash realised by the wind-up of the Commonwealth Diversified Fund (CDF) to apply for the maximum amount. If there isn't any scale-back, and the share price remains close to it's current level, that will produce an immediate windfall profit of $3,000.

DS1 is likely to do even better from this SPP. He currently has $4,750 worth of ANZ shares, and has $1,000 spare cash sitting in his St George Happy Dragon account (earned from busking) that he wants to use to buy some more ANZ shares via the SPP. I think I'll lend him another $14,000 as a short-term loan so he can also apply for the maximum allotment. If he's lucky and gets the full $15,000 worth of ANZ SPP shares issued at $14.40 he can sell enough surplus shares to repay my $14,000 loan a few weeks later. Depending on how the price moves between now and when the SPP shares are sold, he may end up with an extra $3,000 of 'free' ANZ shares in his portfolio.

I'll borrow the $14,000 to lend DS1 from my St George Portfolio loan account (5.10% current interest rate).

Friday, 12 June 2009

Using CFDs to add gearing to our SMSF fund

So far we have invested our SMSF in the Vanguard Highgrowth fund, whose asset allocation is mostly the Australian and International share markets. Despite the recent poor performance of stock markets around the world, I'm still of the opinion that, in the medium- to long-term, this asset allocation is most likely to provide the best return for the amount of risk we are comfortable with. In fact, given that the Australian stock market appears to have possibly bottomed out in March, we have opened a CFD trading account with Commsec for our SMSF. I intend to buy a single ASX-200 index CFD (IQ) to add a modest amount (around 10%) leverage to our SMSF stock market investment. The margin on the index CFDs is 10% and each IQ CFD has a contract value of 10x the index. So, if the index is 4,000 the CFD contract value will be $40,000 and the initial margin required to buy 1 IQ CFD will be $4,000. Basically, the cost of the IQ CFD is the index value expressed in AUD, and every point movement in the index corresponds to a $10 gain or loss. So, if the ASX-200 index goes up 5% you will make 50% profit on your initial CFD purchase, and if it drops 5% you would lose 50% of the amount invested. We have transferred $5,000 from our SMSF bank account into the CFD trading account, and will buy one IQ CFD. The extra $1,000 would only be enough to cover margin calls if the index drops less than 2.5% from the level at which we buy in, so we'll have to keep a few thousand dollars in the SMSF cash account to cover potential margin calls.

When I initially applied to open an ASX CFD trading account, the index had climbed from below 3,500 to around 3,800. Unfortunately the first lot of paperwork from eSuperfund (our SMSF administrator) was incorrectly filled in for Comsec share CFD trading, not the ASX CFDs (which include index CFDs). In the few weeks it has taken for the correct paperwork to be completed and processed the market has risen to 4,070. It would have been nice to have bought the IQ CFD at 3,800 as we would now be sitting on a $2,700 unrealised profit to act as a buffer in case the market pulls back. As it is, I'm hoping we get an opportunity to buy in when the market has another bad day.

The brokerage costs for trading ASX index CFDs appear to be relatively modest, and the holding costs appear to be around 1.5% pa above the overnight cash rate. I'll find out exactly what the total cost is after we've bought a CFD and held the position open for a year.

Thursday, 11 June 2009

Coles Gift Card promotion

I received an email today telling me that I had accrued $3.51 as at the end of May. Provided my total exceeds $5.00 by the time the promotion ends on 31 July, I'll be sent a Coles gift-card for the amount accrued. When you spend over $30 in one transaction you receive 1c credit per dollar spent. There are also some 'Boost' products advertised around the store where you earn an extra $1 credit for buying them. I did buy one such product a few weeks ago, but I can't tell if I received the $1 bonus as the monthly gift card statement doesn't provide details of the individual transactions that accrued credits. It's a pity that this promotion ends next month - after that happens the QFF points available with the Woolworths loyalty program will entice me compared to the standard FlyBuys points available at Coles.