tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313506662012-01-27T17:26:56.047+11:00I lost half a million dollars on the stock market in just twelve months! Learn how you, too can become an ex-millionaire with almost no effort!enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.comBlogger10641100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-13848084041649277252011-12-21T19:54:00.000+11:002011-12-21T19:54:38.241+11:00

I think that I had previously posted that Maths Online is a great study tool for secondary students (or advanced year 5/6 students) and how it was great that McDonalds was sponsoring access to it for all Australian students... Well, the SMH had an article today revealing that McDonalds had decided to wind back its sponsorship, so that from next year only McDonalds employees will get free access

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-68449948766501827032011-12-05T16:40:00.000+11:002011-12-05T16:40:38.467+11:00

My uni results for last semester came out this morning, and I finally got an HD. 'Galactic Astronomy and Cosmology' (aka GAC) was probably the most difficult of the subjects I've completed so far towards my Master of Astronomy degree, so I was a little surprised to get an HD. Looks like none of the other MAstron students found this subject any easier than I did. I recently came across the blog

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-82802320770628805252011-11-04T21:08:00.000+11:002011-11-04T21:08:39.418+11:00

The Credit Suisse Research Institute brought out their second annual 'Global Wealth Report' last month (link to free pdf here). It makes interesting reading, although its a bit depressing as it shows that my personal wealth accumulation has been badly underperforming both global and Australian benchmarks since the GFC. That can probably be accounted for by comparing my distribution of financial

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-64476956188073749012011-09-05T23:04:00.000+10:002011-09-05T23:04:19.983+10:00

A fourth month of declining net worth. My geared stock portfolio dropped further into negative equity, which meant that our SMSF also had a bad month, as it is mostly invested in the stock market (via Vanguard High Growth Fund and some ASX200 CFDs (IQ)). The valuations for our Sydney properties also dropped slightly, but so far Sydney property prices are holding up slightly better than in other

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-80685714936465730042011-08-08T20:55:00.001+10:002011-08-08T20:57:43.377+10:00

Unfortunately July turned out to be as dismal as May and June. So, if you want any more detailed commentary, just have a look at the May entry again. My geared stock portfolio dropped further into negative equity, and so far it looks like next months report will be even worse. Our SMSF also had a bad month, as it is mostly invested in the Vanguard High Growth Fund and some ASX200 CFDs (IQ)

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-26058923476164396032011-08-05T21:00:00.000+10:002011-08-05T21:00:26.918+10:00

JCU must have recently completed some processing of last year's overall results, because in addition to finally receiving a 'Letter of Commendation' (for getting a GPA>=6.0 in 2010), I also got an invitation to join 'Golden Key International Honour Society' for a once-off fee of A$95 (I also paid an extra $19.95 for a GK lapel pin). Apparently the invite was sent via a mailing list provided by

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-88999998628307116682011-07-13T22:31:00.000+10:002011-07-13T22:31:13.575+10:00

The NSW selective high school entry test results came out last week, and DS1 had scored well enough to be offered a place at his second choice selective high school. That selective school has very good academic results (in the top 10 HSC results for the state last year - comparable to his first selective HS choice, and also Sydney Grammar private school, which he'd also applied to). As the school

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-6200672554893163162011-07-12T22:05:00.000+10:002011-07-12T22:05:06.444+10:00

Uni results for Semester 1 came out last week and I managed to get another Distinction in my MAstron coursework. I was hoping I might finally get an HD, but didn't realistically expect it as for two of my tutorial assignments I only scored 6/10 and 7/10, and the final exam included a few questions where I wasn't confident I had the correct answer. As the exam paper took about 14 hours to complete

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-75179665584603782282011-07-11T20:45:00.000+10:002011-07-11T20:45:43.446+10:00

Grrrr. I noticed some odd spam email I received that seemed to be coming from one of my old, unused email accounts (an @netscape.net account I just keep open in case I want to refer to an old email from years ago). I logged into that account to check what was going on, and, sure enough, the "sent" folder has a record of spam emails being sent out. Fortunately it appears there were only a few

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-52104542063461679422011-07-11T20:19:00.000+10:002011-07-11T20:19:42.694+10:00

Unfortunately June turned out to be as dismal as May. So, if you want any more detailed commentary, just read last months entry again ;( Another bad month for my stock portfolio, with my geared stock portfolio dropping further into negative equity. However, this was due to annual interest pre-payments being capitalised more than the valuations of the stock investments changing much. Our SMSF

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-20815207822609811062011-06-11T11:57:00.000+10:002011-06-11T11:57:38.387+10:00

A bad month for stock investments, with my geared stock portfolio dropping into negative equity. One of my biggest single holdings is a listed private equity fund (IPE), which is trading well below it's supposed NAV, and is worth less than half what I paid for it pre-GFC. With the Aussie economy in the doldrums everywhere except the mining sector, I don't think this investment will "come good"

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-45116954151519091922011-05-23T00:59:00.000+10:002011-05-23T00:59:25.374+10:00

I've never been a great fan of Robert Kiyosaki, aside from some of the advice presented in "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" seeming a bit dubious, I find it a bit "rich" for someone who, by their own admission, was a serial-failure at business and investing until his late 40s, to claim to be an expert on investing and finance. (Especially as I'm not sure how well his "borrow heavily and invest in real estate

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-66778571366811504852011-05-21T15:47:00.000+10:002011-05-21T15:47:04.427+10:00

Last year my Aunt died unexpectedly, and my mother found out that under German inheritance law she needed to sign a form disclaiming her automatic right to half of her sister's estate, so it could all pass on to my Uncle. She was happy enough to do so, and my Uncle informed her (in a phone call) that he was going to leave "everything" to her, as he had no close blood relatives. Then last month

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-74521346058139119132011-05-15T15:49:00.000+10:002011-05-15T15:49:20.267+10:00

Our two new Samsung B2710 phones arrived unexpectedly on Friday - fortunately DW was having a day off work to take DS1 to see his eczema specialist, so she was at home to sign for the delivery. I was initially informed by Three the week before (via an SMS) that my order for a pair of new Samsung B2710s to replace our old phones had been cancelled as it was out of stock, then I was told the next

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-171537662727437642011-05-06T21:17:00.001+10:002011-05-06T21:21:23.645+10:00

The two-year contract period on our Three mobile phone account ended last month, which is perfect timing because DWs phone was no longer able to charge her battery (due to some orange juice from DS1 sipper cup leaking in her handbag). So, we had to keep swapping batteries between our two Sony Ericsson G502 phones in order to keep both batteries charged up. It was a real hassle because every time

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-81428391753036625182011-05-06T00:48:00.000+10:002011-05-06T00:48:14.864+10:00

The annual Federal budget for Australia will be announced next week. As usual some of the "nasties" are being leaked beforehand. One that will directly affect me is the proposed reduction in the "discount" applied to up-front payments of university HECS fees. As I always pay my fees in full up-front I usually pay only 80% of the "list price" for my courses. The discount is apparently going to be

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-27860220014341278922011-05-06T00:33:00.000+10:002011-05-06T00:33:11.474+10:00

Hardly any change in my net worth over the past month, with the small (-0.27%) decline in the estimated price of our real estate this month being offset by a slight rise in the stock market that boosted my geared stock market investments by a similar amount. But things aren't looking too rosy for the rest of 2011 - Australian property prices are slowly declining across the board, interest rates

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-48903714189119183602011-04-02T14:50:00.000+11:002011-04-02T14:50:46.864+11:00

A rise in the estimated price of our home this month increased my equity in our property portfolio by almost $16K this month, but the gain was offset by stock market decline affecting the values of our retirement account and geared stock market investments. The drop in my stock portfolio equity was also exacerbated by having to draw down on my portfolio loan account to fund a replacement water

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-8810803365738312772011-03-17T15:06:00.000+11:002011-03-17T15:06:10.346+11:00

A article in the SMH titled 'A million dollars ain't what it used to be.' stated that in a recent survey more than four out of 10 American millionaires said that they do not feel rich. Out of more than 1000 millionaires (having at least $US1 million in investable assets, excluding any real estate or retirement accounts - the average age of respondents was 56-years-old with a mean of $US3.5

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-54334692182910257372011-03-13T19:10:00.000+11:002011-03-13T19:10:09.454+11:00

DS1 will be sitting the official Department of Education selective high schools tests on Thursday morning. Then, on the following Saturday, he will be sitting a similar test ($20cost ) for the local (non-selective) public high school in order to be considered for their 'gifted and talented' class in Year 7 (1st form) next year. He will also be sitting a similar test ($60 cost) a few weeks later

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-63795499818201902612011-03-05T18:14:00.000+11:002011-03-05T18:14:26.770+11:00

As I suspected might happen, I spoke too soon about being a "millionaire" again. After breaking through the million dollar barrier earlier in the month, the middle East troubles and spike in the oil price made the Australian stock market drop enough to push my net worth below the megadollar in time for my end of month accounting. However, it still looks like 2011 could be pretty kind to my NW -

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-47953450674249839782011-02-19T16:50:00.000+11:002011-02-19T16:50:48.232+11:00

On 19 Feb we suddenly found ourselves without any hot water (we have an electric 265L hot water tank that is heated "off peak" in the early hours each morning), so we had to call in a plumber to make repairs. I still thought of the tank as being fairly "new", as when we bought our house in 2003 it was only just out of the 5 year warranty period. The plumber replaced the heating element and

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-64711070110809403012011-02-19T16:22:00.000+11:002011-02-19T16:22:59.640+11:00

Well, all four neon tetras we had bought had died after the first two days. I've never had much luck with keeping neon tetras, so next month I'll just add one ramirezi dwarf cichlid and possibly one kuhli loach, rather than replacing the neon tetras. The siamese fighting fish appears to be thriving, as does the pearl gourami. I might buy a second pearl gourami when the tank is well established.

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-72474164282173849482011-02-14T20:11:00.000+11:002011-02-14T20:11:19.922+11:00

I did a fish count when I turned on the tank light after getting home from work and found one dead neon tetra and only two live ones. I can't find the fourth neon tetra, so I assume the body is wedged someone amongst the bogwood, plants and gravel. The Siamese fighting fish looks happy enough, and after searching for a while I spotted the pearl gourami dozing in a cavern under the bogwood. He

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-81397059488942898132011-02-14T02:55:00.000+11:002011-02-14T02:55:20.146+11:00

Due to various family members suffering from allergies, asthma and/or eczema, our household has been pretty much a pet-free zone up to now. We previously had a couple of attempts at keeping a Siamese fighting fish in a small bowl, but it was a short-lived (ahem) experiment both times. However, as I had successfully kept (and bred) tropical fish as a youngster myself, I still wanted to set up a

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-35230126473270799852011-02-12T02:16:00.000+11:002011-02-12T02:16:43.722+11:00

I've never been a supporter of capital punishment, mostly because the legal system does occasionally get it wrong (and while you can pay compensation to someone who has been incorrectly incarcerated for years, the state can't "make things right" when it turns out they executed the wrong person), but also because I can't see that the principal of national "self defence" that could be used to

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-40331130733026397572011-02-11T13:30:00.000+11:002011-02-11T13:30:39.748+11:00

For the past few months I haven't been tracking my investment account balances daily, but since I have a day off work today and the Aussie share market has been doing well for the past couple of weeks I decided to look up the current figures. According to my "net worth" spreadsheet the bottom line using yesterday's close of business figures was $1.006 million. I'm a millionaire! Again. Last

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-69446273001950466222011-02-01T02:38:00.000+11:002011-02-01T02:38:26.058+11:00

The Australian stock market had declined slightly by the end of this month, so my equity in my geared stock portfolio decreased by around $4,000. However, our property valuations rose a bit during the month, and we also made a small repayment of mortgage principal during January, which improved our real estate portfolio equity. Some employer contributions were deposited into my SMSF account

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-9019586657576882592011-01-25T20:47:00.000+11:002011-01-25T20:47:46.688+11:00

Coles currently has 750g packets of weet-bix on special for $2.09. I checked the unit price (28c per 100g) and it really is a lot cheaper than the regular price, even compared to the bigger 1.3kg packs (around 55c per 100g). I bought four packs as there is also a special offer from Sanitarium for a "free" baggy green cricket cap at the moment. The first 20,000 people to complete an online entry

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-11315582699328743452011-01-25T20:26:00.000+11:002011-01-25T20:26:12.659+11:00

Our solar power panels were finally installed by NuEnergy last week. The installation only took a couple of hours, and the panels on top of our garage roof aren't even visible from the street. We now have to get the feed-in meters installed by the EnergyAustralia contractor so we can get paid for the power being generated. There was some mucking about regarding one of the authorisation numbers -

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-65425241576419594302011-01-23T14:29:00.001+11:002011-01-23T14:54:24.131+11:00

2011 will be a big year for DS1 - he's in the final year of Primary School (Year 6 in the NSW system) and will be sitting the selective high schools test and private high schools selection and scholarship tests over the next couple of months. Fortunately there is a good local public High School available (the one I attended), so it won't be a major drama if he doesn't get a place in one of the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-3043733595935220532011-01-16T10:45:00.001+11:002011-01-16T13:47:28.433+11:00

An interesting article in the SMH by Kevin Rudd (our ex-PM) lists what he considers to be the ten great global shifts and challenges facing Australia. Aside from being a bit too self-congratulatory about what a 'you beaut' job the Australian Labor party is doing at running the country, I think the big problem with this article is that is totally ignores the underlying problem that has created

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-25463493018144922422011-01-15T17:25:00.000+11:002011-01-15T17:25:07.417+11:00

The annual registration renewal notice for my Scat Hovercraft ($56.50) just arrived, along with a reminder notice for the registration of my boat ($92.50). I wouldn't mind paying these annual registration fees if I was able to actually use the boat and hovercraft, but for the past five years they've both been sitting up at my parent's lakeside farmlet gathering dust (and probably need a major

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-72452889417249069892011-01-12T18:54:00.000+11:002011-01-12T18:54:36.241+11:00

When the markets were booming it seemed to make sense having three separate margin loan accounts, plus other broker accounts for training US stocks, options and CFDs with Commsec. Post-GFC the principle of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) has a lot going for it. So I continue to slowly rationalise my stock and fund portfolio... Today I sold off my holding of IANG [IAG FINANCE (NZ) LTD] as I'd made

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-42168439808267098302011-01-11T22:27:00.001+11:002011-01-11T22:29:07.000+11:00

It's been raining a LOT this summer, due to the 'la Nana' effect in the Pacific ocean between Australia and South America (the opposite effect, 'el Nino' regularly causes droughts here). But in the past week Queensland has been getting additional heavy rainfall which, with the ground already saturated, is causing flash flooding. Even parts of the capital city, Brisbane, are now under threat. One

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-55542349576207297142011-01-11T22:10:00.002+11:002011-01-11T22:10:26.415+11:00

I felt the black scheme was too hard to read, so I've chosen this new scheme (with astronomical background). Use the "rate this post" tool to give it a score from 1 to 5 ;) Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2011

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-71560210009803263942011-01-10T22:17:00.000+11:002011-01-10T22:17:36.686+11:00

I was checking the 1/1/2011 opening balance of my credit card account online when I noticed that an odd 'purchase authorisation' transaction for 10c had been processed on the 4th. I'd read somewhere that crooks will often make such a small transaction using stolen credit card details, and if the transactions gets processed without any problems they will then make large purchases a few days later.

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-2924158509132613232011-01-10T01:30:00.000+11:002011-01-10T01:30:17.407+11:00

I feel I had a fairly productive weekend - I started assembling the six 'cube' bookcases I bought from Aldi 18 months ago, and so far things are going OK (the first two packs went together easily and the finished product looks even better than I expected). Next weekend I'll need to assemble and then cut in half two of the remaining bookcases, so that the resulting 'L-shaped' bookcases can fit

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-29617700627980631602011-01-06T19:36:00.000+11:002011-01-06T19:36:33.586+11:00

I don't think I even bothered doing a post about my goals last year, but looking back at my 2009 post I can see that I still haven't achieved several of my main goals, so here they are again for 2011, plus a few new ones: HEALTH: 1) Lose weight and 2) exercise more: After losing a few kg when I was sick last year, I put it all on again. So I still have to lose about 20kg to have a healthy BMI,

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-75075099350097319742011-01-03T22:27:00.000+11:002011-01-03T22:27:08.017+11:00

The stock market posted some solid gains this month, so both my geared stock portfolio and retirement savings account increased by around $10,000. Our property valuations also rose a bit during the month, so my overall net worth figure increased by about $28K (~3%). As the USD had dropped below parity with the Aussie dollar by the end of 2010, my NW is slightly more in USD terms than the AUD

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-77522636075079142342010-12-22T23:55:00.000+11:002010-12-22T23:55:02.824+11:00

My workplace is shutting down between Christmas and New Year's, so all the staff have to take some of their annual leave days during this period. It isn't much of an imposition though, as most staff would probably want to take leave during that period anyhow. I've also taken a few extra days off before Christmas, so today was my last day of work until the 4th of January. During the break I want

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-21370280761228705492010-12-12T11:10:00.001+11:002010-12-13T02:55:36.899+11:00

My textbooks order arrived from Amazon.com a couple of days ago, so I'll have lots to read while I visit my parent's farm for the holidays. Unfortunately the cardboard box had been broken in transit and 'repacked' by simply dumping the entire contents and box into a soft 'tote bag'. Obviously that didn't provide much protection for the books as they travelled airmail from the US to Australia, so

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-87855439662543394822010-12-06T20:32:00.000+11:002010-12-06T20:32:47.214+11:00

The results for my second semester subject (Astronomy Instrumentation) came out this morning -- another Distinction. Considering I was ill for a month in the middle of the semester it's about as good as I could reasonably expect. On the one hand I need to start earning some High Distinction grades if I'm to have any chance of getting a university medal, so I was hoping I might somehow still have

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-32257519199209835122010-12-02T00:10:00.000+11:002010-12-02T00:10:59.357+11:00

The stock market didn't do so well this month, what with Ireland going broke, North Korea going (more) insane, and locally the Reserve Bank raising interest rates only to find that the economy had practically ground to a halt in the last quarter (0.2% GDP growth). However our property valuations rose a bit during the month, so my overall net worth figure hardly declined. With the economy slowing

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-38982740114427667242010-12-01T23:57:00.000+11:002010-12-01T23:57:11.205+11:00

The week before I collected our new car I decided I'd better tidy up the garage and install an automatic opener on our roll-a-door. I'd been parking the old car outside in the carport, but didn't think that would be such a good idea with the new car - someone had stuck screws into two of our tyres a couple of weeks ago, and on Halloween night some eggs had been thrown at our house (but luckily

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-44465623168795241212010-11-20T19:09:00.000+11:002010-11-20T19:09:16.740+11:00

We finally decided to go ahead and trade in our 10-year-old Ford Festiva for a new 4WD/AWD SUV (A Ford Escape ZD). With the kids now 4 and 10 the Festiva was getting a bit cramped, and I was getting tired of driving a manual car for an hour and a half in peak hour traffic every day. This model is usually priced around $34,000 but at the moment is on 'sale' for $27,990 "drive away" so it's about

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-55557740390708220372010-11-13T12:40:00.001+11:002010-11-13T12:48:41.130+11:00

Last time I checked, buying textbooks online from Amazon.com and paying for shipping to Australia was about 1/3 cheaper than buying the same textbooks "locally" from the Uni Co-op bookshop (even after the ~10% "member" discount). So, while the Aussie dollar is at parity with the greenback I decided to order all the remaining textbooks and recommended reference books for the rest of my MAstron

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-70150584923805905362010-11-09T20:10:00.000+11:002010-11-09T20:10:15.061+11:00

I finally managed to complete my last prac assignment for 'Astronomical Instrumentation' during my lunch hour and email it to JCU. When I checked my email again after work the lecturer had already marked and returned it! As I had expected, there was LOTS of "constructive criticism" feedback scattered throughout - so I was pleasantly surprised to still manage to score 8/10. Overall I averaged

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-82676930380821112352010-11-07T15:19:00.000+11:002010-11-07T15:19:21.261+11:00

Well, I just spent the past 24 hours doing the "open book" final exam for this terms Master of Astronomy subject, 'Astronomical Instrumentation'. I actually got about five hours sleep and slacked off (aka as lunch, dinner and a shower) for several hours, so all in all I "only" took 15 hours to complete the ten multi-part questions! I emailed my answers to the lecturer 30 minutes before the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-59266514492498829322010-10-31T21:32:00.000+11:002010-10-31T21:32:33.253+11:00

The stock market ended the month with a modest gain after being up strongly in the first weeks of October. Despite many pundits proclaiming the Australian real estate market is now a bubble, prices continue to hold up overall, and our property valuations rose strongly, more than regaining the slight drop in average sales price the previous month. Although real estate prices are definitely high,

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-54490115948744020332010-10-31T13:24:00.000+11:002010-10-31T13:24:33.038+11:00

A couple of days ago the NSW state government announced the outcome of their review of the solar power incentives scheme. As expected, the "feed-in tariff" was cut, as the scheme had proved more popular than expected and the targeted capacity had already been exceeded (and was therefore going to cost the government a lot more than expected). It was also proving to be a political liability, as

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-82579304323677914832010-10-23T13:05:00.000+11:002010-10-23T13:05:00.123+11:00

I've added a ranking badge from Money Crashers to the bottom of this blog's template. There are quite a few ranking services out there, and several aggregators that combine the various ranks and popularity indicators to provide an overall 'ranking' of personal finance blogs. This new listing from Money Crashers uses a large set of indicators to come up with their overall ranking score, and the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-35938168008373538272010-10-21T21:41:00.000+11:002010-10-21T21:41:53.125+11:00

I haven't been blogging much lately -- DS1 was in and out of hospital three times in the past two months, and I've also had to take time off work due to illness (first for a bout of 'flu that lingered on for months and developed into bronchitis/sinusitis, and then for a leg infection that required a couple of weeks in bed/on the sofa and getting IV antibiotics twice a day). All that put me way

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-75859628841288906872010-10-07T00:53:00.000+11:002010-10-07T00:53:09.940+11:00

I was wondering why QR National began a TV advertising blitz last month - lots of long, long goods trains shipping mountains of coal around the place. All became clear why the share float/privatisation was announced - the Queensland government is selling off this public asset. The prospectus won't be issued until next weekend, but from the amount of interest and pre-registration for share

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-91410115048600895302010-10-05T22:52:00.000+11:002010-10-05T22:52:43.656+11:00

The SMH reported briefly on a study on happiness published by Professor Headey in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After tracking the happiness of 60,000 Germans for 25 years he found that over the long-term, happiness was variable, and depended on the life goals and choices of the individual, rather than being largely decided by personality traits moulded early in

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-35361023635957749732010-10-03T16:59:00.000+11:002010-10-03T16:59:46.589+11:00

The stock market gains during August were largley offset by one of our property valuations declining considerably, but the latest average sales figures show more typical prices that will cause a rebound in our property valuation for next month's NW figure. I've had a serious health problem recur twice in the past couple of months, which has led to brief discussions with DW about what we would do

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-14955028593416866322010-09-14T16:30:00.000+10:002010-09-14T16:30:30.775+10:00

An updated snapshot of my specific stock and mutual fund investments is shown below. The current situation is far from ideal - with an extremely high loan:value ratio (LVR) of almost 100% (pre-GFC I had been maintaining the overall LVR around 65% by buying additional investments as the value of my portfolio increased. That strategy was based on expected long-term ROI of 10%+ and occasional bear

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-24974781926910462842010-09-12T14:29:00.000+10:002010-09-12T14:29:28.126+10:00

When I was a lad, international phone calls cost a small fortune and the line was often so bad you could hardly understand what the person on the other end was saying. Over the years the cost of international telephone calls slowly dropepd and quality improved, and for the past few years DW has been able to call her overseas relatives using a pre-paid 'calling card' which only cost a few cents

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-50849105834217172522010-09-03T20:43:00.000+10:002010-09-03T20:43:06.868+10:00

Yesterday I signed a contract for NuEnergy to install a 1.5kW photovoltaic power system on our roof. The installation won't happen for 10-12 weeks (as all the application paperwork for the Federal government rebate has to be approved before installation can commence). So, hopefully, the system will be installed before Christmas. I decided to sign-up immediately because the state government

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-6522489216854530042010-09-03T13:26:00.000+10:002010-09-03T13:26:09.363+10:00

No, this isn't a soppy "my kids are priceless" post, just an occasional updates on their financial net worth. As of 30 August, DS1 (10 yo) had a net worth of $55,504.50 spread between his retirement savings account (superannuation), share portfolio and Vanguard Index fund investment. DS2 (4 yo) had a net worth of $7,091.64 - with relatively more invested in bank accounts, a small retirement

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-42704021009559230822010-09-01T14:23:00.000+10:002010-09-01T14:23:50.667+10:00

The stock market weakened considerably during August, resulting in lower valuations for my geared stock portfolio and our Self-Managed Superannuation Fund. Property valuations also declined slightly, and the latest average sales figures show an even greater decline will impact next month's NW figures. However, with the latest Australian economic growth figures showing robust growth (around 3.3%

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-72485322597985995832010-08-31T16:43:00.000+10:002010-08-31T16:43:26.492+10:00

My last quarterly electricity bill showed that the price of electricity had gone up by 10% fro 1 June, and the price hikes are expected to continue for many years. The $800+ quarterly bill showed that our daily household electricity consumption is around 48 kWh a day - which is much higher than the 'typical' household usage figure - so it is worth looking for areas where we can save power. I made

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-64469323163415548822010-08-27T18:40:00.000+10:002010-08-27T18:40:37.626+10:00

The annual budget announcement often highlights the details of specific changes being made, so much so that the overall budget picture often isn't clear. So I had a look at the top-level figures for the 2009-10 budget and divided the amounts by the current Australian population (around 22.5 million) to get a better feel for the amounts involved: Budget Revenue (2009-10): Income tax:............

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-23387917187739186922010-08-20T12:10:00.000+10:002010-08-20T12:10:25.582+10:00

Yesterday online betting agencies were reporting that Labor was still firm favourite to win tomorrow's federal election, with odds around 1.5 compared to 4 for the coalition picking up enough seats to form government. This was despite the coalition being favoured to pick up a large number of marginal seats in NSW and Queensland (where state Labor governments are decidedly unpopular after years

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-60304675259674442322010-08-11T12:43:00.000+10:002010-08-11T12:43:33.629+10:00

With the Australian federal election campaign in it's final weeks, the focus yesterday turned to the 'National Broadband' plans of the two major parties. The incumbent Labor party has embarked on a $43 billion dollar scheme that aims to provide access to 100 megabits per second to 97% of the Australian population (apparently it's vitally important for everyone to have fast internet - except for

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-6423685818400022812010-08-06T14:50:00.000+10:002010-08-06T14:50:20.188+10:00

2millionblog.com recently posted a monthly income and expenses 'snapshot', so I thought I'd compare it with our current budget. I've adjusted the budget figures I recently posted to add back in the superannuation contributions to our net pay, and exclude business, rental and investment items to be comparable to 2millionBlog's figures: _______________________________2millionBlog__________

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-87852341948055359282010-08-05T11:24:00.000+10:002010-08-05T11:24:08.589+10:00

We'll be travelling from Sydney to Inverell (in the far north of the state) to stay at my parents' farm over the Christmas/New Year period - a distance of 621 km. The cheapest option would be to drive up in our 10-year-old Festiva, but the car is a bit too cramped for long distance journeys. The drive would take about 6.5 hours each way (longer if we take a lunch break on the way), and cost

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-6960084893178516302010-08-04T13:04:00.000+10:002010-08-04T13:04:37.818+10:00

I used to do a monthly summary table of the NW of the various bloggers who posted this data each month. Many of the bloggers were not directly comparible - some were paying off debt/student loan, some were retired, and many were just starting out to accumulate wealth. Although it was a fair bit of work each month, the post was popular - so popular in fact that other bloggers started to do

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-9597215622755012352010-08-04T11:04:00.000+10:002010-08-04T11:04:06.106+10:00

Stock market gains during July resulted in increased valuations for my geared stock portfolio and our Self-Managed Superannuation Fund. Property valuations were not updated this month as sales data wasn't available. From the June Quarter statistics it looks like house prices have flattened out overall, but that may not correlate with the performance of my property portfolio as I'm only interested

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-21963004314911230142010-08-04T10:56:00.000+10:002010-08-04T10:56:10.052+10:00

I remember reading Bernstein's views on expected asset class performance back in 2006 - he basically held the view that stock and other growth assets were overpriced, as expected returns didn't justify the high prices. While he didn't explicitly "call" the GFC, I certainly wish I adopted his views and wound back my stock market gearing (continuing to invest in stocks using other people's money

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-49007702438988893882010-07-25T20:43:00.000+10:002010-07-25T20:43:02.339+10:00

I originally started this blog using blogger, then decided to register the domain name using Dotster and setting up Blogger to utilise the 'custom domain' enoughwealth.com. After a bit of fiddling with settings in my Blogger dashboard and paying extra for DNS settings management with Dotster, I got the http://enoughwealth.com URL to work OK (ie. displaying my blogger content), but the 'www'

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-44549890444378094192010-07-25T20:24:00.000+10:002010-07-25T20:24:46.457+10:00

It's a well known fact that keeping up with the techno-Joneses by buying the latest cool techo-toys can be a wee bit expensive (do you want an iPad with your iPhone?), not to mention the 'joys' of living on the "bleeding edge" of technology and being one of the first to uncover that exciting new 'undocumented feature' (no, no, you're just holding your iPhone 4 the wrong way you klutz - there's

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-26356264842913032062010-07-14T21:07:00.000+10:002010-07-14T21:07:59.530+10:00

It's a lot easier to be a 'distance education' uni student today compared to the situation back in the 80s. In those days when I was enrolled at Charles Sturt University there was an endless stream of paperwork being sent to and fro by snail-mail - application forms, enrollment forms, course notes and assignments. In contrast my current studies at James Cook University have involved minimal

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-10061192157174340602010-07-09T20:18:00.001+10:002010-07-09T20:22:24.062+10:00

As a part-time student I can buy the academic versions of Microsoft Office 2010 Professional and Windows 7 Professional at a substantial discount to the RRP. Today I bought the Office 2010 download for AUD$99 (and an extra $14 to be sent the DVD in case I need to reinstall in the future). I haven't downloaded the installation file yet as it is around half a GB, which would use up 50% of my

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-74505432030344425302010-07-09T19:29:00.000+10:002010-07-09T19:29:31.342+10:00

My parents sometimes ask me about the choices available for investing their retirement funds, and I've previously told them about investing in index funds as an alternative to cash or bond funds. However, they have never been very comfortable with the ups and downs of the stock market, and since they are now both in their 70s, investing in the stock market for potentially higher returns compared

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-78078202231121339732010-07-06T20:19:00.003+10:002010-07-06T20:51:26.860+10:00

The results for last semester's MAstron subject 'Modern Astrophysics' came out yesterday - I got a Distinction but missed out on the High Distinction I was aiming for. My raw scores for tutorial and prac assignments were sufficient for an HD grade, and the lecturer has confirmed that I got around 80%-85% in the final exam, so apparently I ended up missing out on an HD because so many of the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-24118833930153002022010-07-05T19:50:00.002+10:002010-07-05T20:00:03.906+10:00

Stock portfolio value continued to decline during June, which also meant our SMSF account value dropped despite the addition of some employer contributions during the month (our superannuation is largely invested in the stock market via the Vanguard High Growth Index Fund). However, our real estate investments saw a significant rise in valuations as the Sydney market had been rising during the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-69985895263597284722010-06-30T19:40:00.003+10:002010-06-30T19:58:06.303+10:00

I used to spend less than $50,000 a year on our family 'living expenses' - managing to save the rest of my salary via salary sacrifice into superannuation and paying interest on my margin loan investment borrowings. However, I haven't been following a strict budget for the past couple of years, and despite having more salary coming into my bank account each month (due to the reduced cap on annual

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-9065864847013470742010-06-24T01:04:00.002+10:002010-06-24T01:10:07.979+10:00

Despite swearing I'd never directly invest in shares again (have spent many tedious hours collating my paperwork to work out the capital gains figures for last years tax return - I hate DRPs, share takeovers for script, splits, demergers, bonus issues, SPP etc. - especially when they all happen to the same stock holding over a decade or more!) I couldn't resist buying $5,000 worth of Elders (ELD)

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-25669411038714264962010-06-24T00:40:00.002+10:002010-06-24T01:03:52.129+10:00

In a surprise move, some Labor factions have banded together to convince Julia Gillard to challenge Kevin Rudd for leadership. It's very unusual for a Prime Minister to be challenged - especially during the first time in office after a "landslide" victory and starting out with record-breaking high approval levels. It looks like too many Labor back-benchers have realised that their jobs are on the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-72289355889711746452010-06-13T15:45:00.002+10:002010-06-13T16:16:21.024+10:00

Although I don't think Gold is likely to be a good investment at current prices (I bought a few ounces several years ago when the price was around $500 and ounce, so it now appears a bit pricey at almost $1500 an ounce) I just bought a dozen of the new 2010 0.5 g "Mini Roo" 99.99% gold coins from the Perth Mint. I had a couple of gift cards that were due to expire in a few months, and I was at a

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-20655153302084698152010-06-07T19:06:00.002+10:002010-06-07T20:07:03.868+10:00

I sat the "open book" final exam for my Modern Astrophysics course on Saturday/Sunday (the exam questions were put online at 10am on Saturday and we had 24 hourse to complete our answers and email our submission to the lecturer using our secure JCU email account). I downloaded and had a quick read through the ten questions on Saturday morning when I brought DS1 back from his piano lesson, and

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-6296134646475167732010-06-04T19:15:00.003+10:002010-06-04T19:18:36.343+10:00

Sell in May and go away - I wish! My stock portfolio value decreased significantly during May thanks to the EU soverign debt crisis, which meant our SMSF account also dropped considerably. Our real estate investments rose in estimated value, but the estimates are getting less reliable and more out of date due to recent changes in the available suburban sales figures.I think I'll stop updating my

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-42139774940547945222010-06-03T18:45:00.004+10:002010-06-03T19:09:17.797+10:00

After waiting for more than six months the Personal Solar Telescope (PST) with double-stack hydrogen-alpha filter finally arrived from the US. As the price listed on the package was US$999 the Australian Customs held it upon arrival and I had to fill in three forms (one to get registered as an 'importer', one to register the US company that sent me the goods as an 'exporter', and another one

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-30781709392881841062010-05-26T19:35:00.003+10:002010-05-26T19:41:42.546+10:00

The annual Business Review Weekly's "rich list" came out today, with the estimated net worth required to make it onto the list of the richest 200 Australians rising to A$185 million (up 23% from A$150 million last year). The chart below shows how my net worth has been tracking compared to 1% of the BRW cut-off for the past few years. Pre-GFC my ultimate goal was to slowly increase my net worth in

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-1391966583776334232010-05-23T19:12:00.002+10:002010-05-26T19:20:19.951+10:00

My employer reviews salaries across the board every year in June, just prior to the start of the new financial year on 1 July. Due to the GFC salaries were frozen last year, and there had been a minimal 2% "cost of living" rise the year before. So I'm hoping that since the Australian economy is now doing quite well (around 3%+ GDP growth) we should see a rise of 4% or more this year. As soon as

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-4402624475715343302010-05-21T22:26:00.002+10:002010-05-21T23:06:29.954+10:00

My first semester enrolled (part-time and via distance education) in the Master of Astronomy course at James Cook University (JCU) is drawing to a close - the final tutorials and prac assignments for 'Modern Astrophysics' have been submitted and the final exam is only two weeks away. I'm currently in that transient period where I can still fantasize about acing the course - so far I have averaged

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-79947010564939383052010-05-04T18:36:00.002+10:002010-05-04T18:41:35.291+10:00

Stock portfolio value decreased significantly during late April thanks to the EU soverign debt crisis, which meant our SMSF account also dropped despite the addition of some employer contributions during the month (our superannuation is largely invested in the stock market via the Vanguard High Growth Index Fund). Our real estate investments saw only a slight rise in valuations compared to the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-16549749353662220102010-05-02T17:37:00.003+10:002010-05-02T18:16:23.215+10:00

On the good side, it appears that a lot of the major tax changes that would detrimental to my situation (and should be attractive to a socialist government) ended up not happening (yet - there's always the budget after the next election). Apparently no changes to how capital gains are taxed, negative gearing remains unchanged, and a tax cut for superannuation contributions by low-income workers

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-7203698633988164242010-04-30T18:20:00.003+10:002010-04-30T18:52:33.992+10:00

The long-awaited Henry Tax Review Report will be made public on Sunday. The government has been sitting on the report for a long while, and the release is just in time to feed into this year's pre-election budget. The government has already hinted that this year's budget will cut tax for "most" middle-income "working families", so I'm guessing all the revenue raising possibilities contained

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-33953740992383740782010-04-15T20:32:00.002+10:002010-04-15T20:35:24.880+10:00

Enoughwealth.com was included in this list of the 'top 50' personal finance blogs.Unfortunately from the description of my blog, it seems I was included as a prime example of 'what not to do' ;)Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2010

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-72198916228665875622010-04-01T19:19:00.002+11:002010-04-01T19:30:32.986+11:00

Stock portfolio value increased significantly during March, which meant our SMSF account also rose (as our superannuation is largely invested in the stock market via the Vanguard High Growth Index Fund). There were no employer contributions deposited during this month. Our real estate investments also saw a significant rise in valuations compared to the previous month's data, but future monthly

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-90280070713459914702010-03-01T20:24:00.002+11:002010-03-03T20:24:57.018+11:00

Stock portfolio value increased during February, which meant our SMSF account also rose (as our superannuation is largely invested in the stock market via the Vanguard High Growth Index Fund). The gain in the SMSF valuation was also boosted by three months of employer contributions being deposited during the month. Our real estate investments saw a modest rise in valuations compared to the

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-78984376862665770042010-03-01T19:26:00.003+11:002010-03-01T19:44:57.919+11:00

ING's media department recently asked me if I'd like to post an impartial review of their EverydayOrange Savings account product. I was happy to agree as I already have an ING Online Savings Account which I've used for many years and I'm happy with that account's features and service. ING deposited $600 into the new account so I could trial all the available features -- on the condition that I

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-69304393668150822252010-02-01T19:42:00.001+11:002010-02-01T19:49:00.062+11:00

After a good start, market uncertainty regarding the strength of the global economic recovery saw a significant dip in my net worth by the end of January. This month continued improvement in the Sydney property market was more than offset by losses in the stock market which affected both my leveraged stock investments and the value of our SMSF account investments - by 31 January my net worth had

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-29385458543891020172010-01-04T18:50:00.002+11:002010-01-04T18:54:12.489+11:00

December saw another significant increase in my net worth, with a "Santa Claus rally" and end-of-year "window dressing" in the last few business days boosting the stock market valuations. This month the strength in the Sydney property market was again matched by gains in the stock market - by 31 December my net worth had risen to $864,078 (up $33,246, or 4.00%). However my NW is seeing relatively

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-73422957602169602832010-01-01T13:07:00.002+11:002010-01-01T13:49:56.854+11:00

I'm spending the Christmas/New Year holiday break at home this year. My parents are in the last stages of clearing out their Sydney house and moving permanently up to their rural property near Inverell, so we didn't get to take the kids for a farm-stay this year. DS1 will be going up to their farm in the new year to stay with my parents until the 2010 school year commences at the end of January.

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-61701648691503082952009-12-25T23:24:00.002+11:002009-12-25T23:50:33.669+11:00

My company closed down for Christmas Eve, giving everyone an extra day of paid leave. They're pretty generous that way. On the other hand, they gave a minimal 2% "cost of living" pay rise last year to most employees (when the official CPI in Australia was around 3% and the average wage increased by more than 4%) and this year they gave no "across the board" rise at all, citing the challenging

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-91307856946053429432009-12-22T21:18:00.002+11:002009-12-22T22:31:15.539+11:00

Now, I'm not saying that David Tepper is being overpaid (well, actually I am), but he was paid my annual salary for every 6 minutes he worked in 2009! And although a 120 percent rate of return in excellent, a performance fee of 30% seems a bit rich -- especially since he won't be handing any of it back in bad years (like 2008, when his fund earned -25%). Overall, such performance fee structures

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31350666.post-88928598371594696622009-12-21T19:13:00.005+11:002009-12-21T19:24:44.943+11:00

I just noticed that the liquidators of Timbercorp had deposited $4,803 into my credit union account on Friday. Looking at the KordaMentha (liquidators) website I learned that this was payment of the 1st distribution ($1,601 per Lot) to be made in relation to the sale proceeds received by KordaMentha for the Grower Investors' trees (sold on 30 September). A final distribution (expected to be $543

enoughwealth@yahoo.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371028394685288035noreply@blogger.com1