Rwdfinancial's List: Stockmarket

"It’s been 25 years since well-known US money manager Peter Lynch wrote a book called One Up on Wall Street, but it’s just as relevant today as it was back then.

Lynch’s basic premise was that anyone managing money could beat the returns the professionals on Wall Street dished up. Given he is one of the greatest fund managers of all time, he should know what it takes to win."

"It’s not just the S&P 500 Index on Wall Street that has hit an all-time high.

Investors are borrowing money at a record pace from their brokers so they can buy stocks. Also known as margin loans, they are prompting some to worry if the bull market is real or built on hot money that could just as easily see the market drop suddenly."

"Dr Faber is predicting a 1987-type stock market crash this year – only it will be worse."

"Describing himself as a “fully invested bear”, he believes global financial markets are caught in a huge asset bubble. But he acknowledges professional investors such as he can’t afford to sit on the sidelines while prices soar."

"The declining financial performance of hedge funds is due to a huge influx of mediocre money managers lured by the high pay on offer, one of the industry’s most senior players says."

"Close to 75 per cent of actively managed in­vestment funds focused on the top 200 stocks underperformed cheaper “passive investment” index funds over the past five years, according to S&P Dow Jones. Small-cap funds proved the exception."

"As the widely quoted and much-admired straight-talking strategist at Morgan Stanley, Gerard Minack had been "banging on" about the mounting risks in the global economy well before the GFC hit and laid waste to the world economy and investors' portfolios."

"A few years ago conservatives in the United States were hyperventilating about the then-chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, because they believed his radical monetary policies were going to lead to an uncontrollable outbreak in inflation that would decimate the economy."

"Forecasts for Australian shares in 2015 might be sober and prices might well be volatile.

Towers Watson investment consultant Jeff Chee expects local shares to return 6 per cent or 7 per cent this year, while AMP Capital's Shane Oliver is tipping total returns of closer to 9 per cent. These are gross figures, so the real return, after inflation is taken into account, looks decidedly more subdued."

"The deflation risk is "bad with a high risk of turning ugly"."

"Paul Skamvougeras' top priority as Perpetual's new head of equities is to ensure a smooth transition of leadership from encumbent equities boss Matt Williams, as the funds management giant braces for the loss of another of its star fund managers."

"If you can afford to take capital risk, don't fight the printing press. If you want to realise returns materially above your living costs, you have no choice but to chase yield as the Reserve Bank of Australia gives up on being a responsible adult and joins the forget-about-the-future, stimulate-the-present, cheap money party."

"Ten Commandments of equity investment perhaps, a philosophy designed to sell investment products and keep them sold with as little hassle from their clients as possible. They might have read something like this:"

"Asset bubbles in shares and property could burst in the next six to 18 months, according to one of the country's more bearish investment experts, who is warning baby boomers that their retirement savings are at risk."