At the March meeting of Investment we looked at the February Reporting Season for a number of groups of shares. These included shares which showed a substantial price decrease for various reasons after they had reported; shares which gave shareholders a special dividend as well as the usual interim dividend; and shares that showed a substantial price increase after they had reported.

We also looked at the published results from a survey of 850 on-line viewers of Cuffelinks into reactions to the Financial Services Royal Commission. This survey covered how well viewers were satisfied with the recommendations of the Final Report as well as other questions such as whether the Commission should have addressed vertical integration by separating financial advice from product manufacture.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Friday 5 April 2019 at 2pm in the U3A room at the senior’s complex.  
​
Margaret Jenkins

At the first meeting of Investment for 2019 we welcomed two new members to our group, Helen and Mal Jeffrees and also Brian Trevana who had attended our last two meetings in 2018. We hope you all enjoy our discussions.

At the beginning of the session we acknowledged the uninspiring end to the Share Market in 2018. Then we looked at what CommSec saw as the prospects for 2019 and also what the Big Issues for 2019 were likely to be.  It is important to consider issues like this at the beginning of a year as these issues can influence which stocks are likely to show the most increases during the coming year.

We thank Brian Greed for suggesting our second topic for discussion which arose from the proposed Franking Credit policy of the Labor Party. With a Federal election likely by May 2019 at the latest this policy could have large implications on some retired member’s income through taxation changes. We discussed if there would be a demand for shares with unfranked dividends and also whether there will be more demand for growth companies that pay out less in dividends. It was a great discussion with Bill Parris using his mobile phone to clarify some points for us. 

The next meeting of Investment will be on Friday 1 March at 2pm in the U3A room at the Seniors Complex.
​
Margaret Jenkins