​Les received a jar of Vegemite for his assistance during the year and today’s presentation.

Our long-term stock winner was Margaret J with her XRF selection that gained 28% for the year and the customary home-made jar of jam was handed out. Margaret W came a close second with her selection of NXT that gained 26%. Well done.

Afternoon tea was a long break and we enjoyed a slice of fruit cake from the local supermarket.
 
After the break –  We looked at the implication of the dramatic fall in Lithium prices and the importance of the cost of production. Investors who take note of the Short Sellers list were forewarned of the downturn in lithium companies.  We then viewed the eight companies who gained over 50% in the ASX200 and the two companies who lost 50%.

The volatility of the market of the past 12 months was evident in the charts of CBA and BHP.

The final results of our selection charts demonstrated a difficult year for stock pickers.
 
Our short term stock winner was Neville with his selection of IND (INDUSTRIAL MINERALS LTD ) that rose with profit of $9,105. Neville also received a jar of jam. 

On a final note, thank you to all for your participation in 2023 and our best wishes for a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. A short reminder that Registration for U3A Enrolment in 2024 is Wednesday 10 January 9.30am and our first meeting of “Australian Shares and Stock Market” will be Monday 5th February 2024.


​John Hanlon & Malcolm Sanders

At our November meeting we noted Liontown (LTR) is still bouncing around as the share take over/purchase saga continues. We could not overlook how Neville’s pick last month of Industrial Minerals (IND) has risen 97% so he wins the pick of the month. Whether it was good judgement or luck it was a great increase. Also mentioned - Elders share price remains low, possibly from problems of poor foresight and possible debits. They have concentrated on Queensland, upgrading stores and merchandise and leaving and closing their bread-and-butter stores/farmers in Victoria and New South Wales.

Reports for both Cooper Energy (COE) and Calix Limited (CLX) by some analysts are predicted to have a 100% share price increase over the next 12 months. Neither pay dividends and both are small cap shares.

Our long-term selections also lost 1% in value during October. Leading on this portfolio is Margaret W with selection of NXT in positive territory. Our Bendigo 11 sector Watch list is still 12% down on the February purchase prices.

After the break – Liontown (LTR) was reviewed as last meeting we predicted Gina Rinehart would upset the offer of $3.00 per share by American Co. Abermarle, which proved correct.  Gina acquired 19% of LTR shares which gave her a seat on the board.  Abermarle withdrew their bid which caused the LTR share price to fall from $3.00 to $1.60.  Bell Potter came forward in with an underwriting to cover a $400m debt, so LTR can now complete their project with the input of Gina and her Hancock Resources.

Azure Minerals, AZS – up 45% since October 23rd and 1,200% for the year as SQM from Chile mounted a take-over offer.  Gina Rinehart stepped in and purchased 19% of shares.  Will SQM abandon their offer? Gina has displayed her faith in Lithium production.
The subject changed to world events and safe investments, taking into account the $250,000. Government guarantee on Bank investments.

We finished this section by viewing Westpac and the $7.2b profit and 70c dividend announced on the day.

Our Short-term selections also lost 1% for the month. Three members changed selections hoping for a turnaround in the next 4 weeks. Good Luck. Two shares; Wildcat Resources (WC8) and Deep Yellow Limited (DYL) have had gains of approx. 80%  in the last 4 months.

​The next and final meeting of Investment for 2023 will be on Monday 4th December at 2.00pm in our U3A Classroom 1.


John Hanlon and Malcolm Sanders

At our October meeting we welcomed a new member, Charles.  We reviewed the Costa Group take over by an American firm Paine Schwartz Partners. Current value of the Costa Group is $A 1.49 billion. Frank Costa started in Werribee and Bacchus Marsh as a grower and wholesaler with their own trucks, and later ventured into fruit in Queensland. Frank Costa was a longtime supporter of Geelong Football Club.

Lithium again is still centre stage of many companies including Liontown Resources trying to complete their infrastructure plants and have refined lithium for sale. With a late bid by Gina Rinehart for Liontown Resource competing with the last bid of $3.00 by Albemarle, the outcome is still uncertain as to who will have control. Gina held 16.4 % of the shares on 4th October.

Our long-term sections overall have lost value by 3.2% for the month. Leading is Margaret W with NXT. We had a short look at two videos one of Bega Cheese, and BOE (Boss Energy) a uranium supplier as world supply is low and there are low inventories. The world is looking for a stable country for supply and Boss Energy in Australia may meet some of this demand.

After the break – Prompted by the publicity given to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, the matter of excessive payments was bought up.

While the $20 to $24million payment to Joyce was condemned by the public and press, it is of interest to compare with other CEO payments of $59m, $37m, $32m and even one executive paid $32 m which was $9m more than CEO.

Core Lithium CXO was viewed as it rose by 19% after the release of the annual report.

September is a big payment month for dividends with BHP and CBA paying out $96 billion fully franked.

Performance of the top 20 revealed only two companies in the red for the 12-month period. 

We finished this segment with a comparison of 12 month fixed term deposits between major banks and LaTrobe Financial.

Our Short Term selections also lost 3% for the month. Five members changed selections hoping for a turnaround in the next period. Good Luck. 

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 6th November at 2.00pm in our U3A room No.1.

John Hanlon and Malcolm Sanders.

We had look at listing of Ex Dividend dates and pay dates for September as most companies have now reported their annual accounts and many have already paid out their dividends. Most of the banks have paid a reasonable dividend however the Bank of Queensland and the Bendigo bank still offer good returns that are 100% franked.

We had a look at stock graphs for MAD, MIN and ORE for the month and for the year they are are still positive and increasing.  Many of our long term selections have decreased. Margaret J and Margaret W however are still leading with positive gains with XRF & NXT respectively. The share market has fluctuated this year and until or if, China resumes purchase of iron ore and grains our market will remain flat.

After the break we started this segment by again visiting short selling as we had the example of CXO – Core Lithium which was head of the list of the most shorted stocks, retreating from No 1 to No 13 on the list.  This was the result of price drop when the company announced a share purchase plan at a low price to attract money for further development.

The ‘shorts’ had anticipated this and took their advantage to sell.  The message is to consider the ‘short list’ before you buy. You can find a Shorts listing on web site “Market Index, Popular Pages, ASX short sale data”. https://www.marketindex.com.au/

The lithium market was then viewed, in particular LTR-Liontown which has received its 4th takeover offer from Albemarle at $3.00 per share.

Franked Dividends were then discussed, in particular BHP at 8.6% and Woodside at 9.94% which are very healthy returns from two major companies.

Qantas promoted general discussion, also the debacle of Snowy 2 blowout from $2 billion to $12 billion.

There were a couple changes in the monthly listing by 4 members.

Again thanks to Margaret and Les who ran the August meeting.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 2nd October at 2.00pm in our U3A room No.1.

​
John Hanlon and Malcolm Sanders.

Both Malcolm and John were away on holidays, so Margaret and Les ran the August session of Investment.

We started with the Monthly and Long-Term selections and talked about the sideways movement in the market which has been happening for the past three months.

We then moved on to discuss the ASX Indexes for the End of Financial year 2022-2023 and noted that the ASX Midcap index had performed slightly better than several of the other indexes.

Looking at the ASX Sectors for the End of Financial year 2022-2023 there was a much wider range of performance. The Information Technology sector returned a gain of over 30% whereas the Materials and Resources Sectors showed a gain of 17%. At the other end of the scale the Health Care and Consumer Staples Sectors had returned less than 5%.

To complete this we looked at the charts of a few Information Technology and Materials shares.

On a slightly lighter note, we looked at what happens from 4pm to 4.11pm on the ASX. This informative piece came from Market Index on 23 July 2023, and included information about the Closing Single Price Auction which serves several key functions in the market.

After afternoon tea, Les spoke about Investment Opportunities with Net Zero in 2050. This presentation included charts showing where Uranium is mined and used in energy production around the world.  The rising world price for uranium causing reopening of mines in Australia was shown. We saw charts showing the surprising decline in prices for critical metals used by renewables last financial year and this financial year. This implied lack of demand and increased supply by new entrants to the market, as forecast by The World Bank.

​
Margaret Jenkins & Les Rodgers

At our July meeting we had a quick look at US market and its flow on  to the Australian market.  The Australian market remains  flat with some days it recovers but overall, no change for the month.  LTR shares are holding their rise of June which indicates the takeover is likely to proceed. In our Bendigo 11 sector “Watchlist” only LUMOS DIAGNOSTICS HOLDINGS  (LDX) stood out with a rise of 500% from the start of trading during the day of our 3rd July meeting.

We looked at analyst’s report reviews by Bell Potter on Bega (BGA), CSR, Azure (AZS), and 4DMedical (4DX).
 
Our review of our monthly short-term selections saw Val & Margaret  J  still leading by a good margin.

Our long-term selections Margaret J led the month with XRF. Everyone was able to change their long-term selections and absent members were able to email or phone in a change. 

After the break we learned of scams on Facebook and Instagram where artificially generated reproductions known as deepfake, is used to swindle victims by impersonating prominent business people and trusted brands.  A generated deepfake of an image of Matt Conyn CEO of Comm Bank recently appeared urging people to invest in certain funds, thereby exposing personal bank details.

The ASX200 is up 9.7% for 22/23 compared with – 10.2% the previous year.

We then viewed Morning Wrap on Marked Index website with an in depth look at TLX, also AGL with a forecast of doubling profit next 12 months.  On lithium we looked at LTR and AKE.

The session finished by comparing the Dogs of ASX200 of 2023 with the Dogs of 2022. A copy of the table was emailed out after the meeting to all.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 7th August at 2.00pm in our U3A room No.1.  Margaret Jenkins and Les Rodgers will lead the group as both John & Malcolm will be on holidays.


John Hanlon and Malcolm Sanders

At our June meeting we had a look at US debt limit crisis and its flow on to the Australian market. Minimum drawdown limits on managed super funds revert to pre-COVID limits on 1 July 2023, so you or your advisor/provider need to readjust your payments. Everyone now has a printed copy of the table. Handouts covered Challenger, AMP, Gold tracker, Ex-dividend dates, MIN and our selection lists.
 
Our 11 sectors selections we made in February in the Bendigo Watchlist is still negative by some -$38,000 or 10.5 % negative. This is reflected by all stocks that were purchased in early February when the All-Ord’s Index was 7745. Today the All Ord’s is only 7331. One of our stocks, FXO, is no longer listed and I will follow up where this $9993 investment has gone. I have followed up on this; on 15 May 23 FXO named changed and now trade as QOR.
 
Our long-term selections Margaret led the month with XRF.  We are still optimistic stocks will recover. If you have a good reason, you can change your long-term selection at the 3rd July meeting.
 
After the break we viewed Lithium Stock LTR, Lion Town, up 119% for the year and still in an upward trend after rejecting a take-over offer from Abbermale.  Also, AKE Alkem up 24% which had a partial merge with Livent the worlds no 3 Lithium Miner, and LLL Leo Lithium, which entered a strategic agreement with Glenfang Chinas largest lithium miner, up 53%.
 
We then focused on Tech stocks GTK Glentrack group up 158%, WTC Wisetech Global up 78%, TNE Technology one up 51%.
 
Finally, we compared returns on bank term deposits compared with LaTrobe financial.
 
On our short-term sections many of our members changed their selections. Val with EHE was the June winner $2,411 increase, and Brian second with RSG and close third Don with EVN fourth Les with XRF.
 
The next meeting of the Investment class will be on Monday 3rd July at 2.00pm in U3A Classroom 1.
​
 
John Hanlon and Malcolm Sanders

At our May meeting we had a quick look at the share market, which has been up and down for the month, with some gains and some losses. The big gain was XRF Industrial Group that manufactures and markets precious metal products, specialized chemicals and instruments for the scientific, analytical and mining industries. The XRF share price rose from $1.02 to $1.34; a 31% increase.

Les Rogers spoke of the prospect that coal will remain a major source of energy worldwide beyond 2050. Coal usage will need to decrease by a factor of 20 and solar & wind energy will need massive increases in output if the targets for net zero emissions are to be achieved. This will have impacts on the share market. (Article referred to by Les: Vinichenko, Cherp and Jewell (2021) Historical precedents and feasibility of rapid coal and gas decline required for the 1.5◦C target.  One Earth 4 1477-1490 October 22, 2021.) 

Our 11 sectors selections we made in February in the Bendigo Watchlist is still negative by some -$31,000 or 9% negative. This is reflected by all stocks that were purchased in early February when the All Ords Index was 7745 now the index at 1st May is 7501 down 3% in 3 months.

In the monthly short-term listing Les Rogers’s selection of XRF gave a profit of $3,131 and in the Long Term listing Margaret Jenkins with XRF had a profit of $4,172. This result was rewarded at the end of the meeting with chocolates for both Margaret & Les.
 
After the break we re-visited the matter of short selling which has recently been attracting media reports.  As short selling can have a very negative effect on a company’s share price, it’s a matter of being aware.

Broker Consensus was discussed with opinions as to the pro and cons of taking their advice with attention as to the date of this advice.

Scams have increased 80% in the past year and with banks only compensating 2 to 5% according to the ASIC, are of great concern.  Discussion took place on how we may protect our assets from this scourge.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 5th June at 2.00pm in Classroom 1.

John Hanlon and Malcolm Sanders

At the April meeting we had a full room of members and had a short look at the March 2023 drop in share values across the 11 sectors. AXO was down -1.4% for March. We ran a short introduction on the U3A website on how easy it is to see notes on Investment and news on all groups.

Wende Sturgess gave comments on “Critical Rare Earth Metals” and where the world is heading as most of these are sourced from China and countries are now realizing alternate supply is required. Tesla has already steadily reduced the rare earth materials required to build its EV systems by approximately 25% since 2017. Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter uses 920 pounds of rare earths per plane?

Lithium is also major mineral now in all EV and storage batteries and Australia holds some 80% of the world reserves. Natural graphite, used in cathodes of lithium-ion batteries needs a mere 600% increase to its current production to meet future demand. Liontown Rescources shares rose 60% last week as a result of a takeover offer, the shares are now trading steady at around $2.50. Our Long-term listing; Neville Gibb is leading with his selection of ALK with a  positive of $1,951. Our Short-term monthly listing Val Allen leads with her choice of EHE which was positive  $2,796. The listings were mostly negative with 14 of our members in the red.

After the break John spoke on the Lion Town offer from American Co. Abermail which resulted in a 68% rise in share price and the reasons for a possible sale.

Reference was then given to the bank collapse of Silicon Valley and smaller banks in America and Credit Suisse in Europe and was purchased by UBS, which had a negative effect in world share markets – did it create a buying opportunity?

Focus turned to Short Selling with Hindenburg Research targeting Block-SQ2 and Webit Nano- WBT, a newcomer to the ASX shorted on its entrance price on listing.

We then re-assured ourselves by viewing market statistics which revealed since 1900 the market has returned 13.2% P.A. average with 23 negative years and 99 positive years.

At the March meeting we welcomed 3 new members Don Allen, Val Allen, and Warren Sun.

The updated 11 sector selections from the February meeting were distributed.

The short term and long-term selections were reviewed along with several members adding their selected stocks to our listings.  The Energy sector in February was only 1 the 2 sectors that had minor gains, overall, the XAO fell 3.3% in February.

An example how to obtain double dividends was presented.  This involves buying one stock before the ex-dividend date then selling that stock post ex dividend then from the proceeds buy a second stock before its ex-dividend date.  If both stocks are 100% franked this also increases the returns.

John presented the subject of Short Selling which is one of the most difficult concepts for novice investors to grasp. The goal is to profit from a falling market.

This is done by “borrowing” shares in a company through a stockbroker to sell at the current market price, then buying those shares back later when the shares have fallen.  The difference in price is the profit.

You then return the shares to the original shareholder.  With a minimum investment of $50,000.00 its big business and has a huge effect on the market.  Stock pickers need to be aware of the Open ASX Short Position list, as this displays the companies targeted.  BEAR EFT is a fund that covers this topic.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 3rd April at 2.00pm in our U3A room.

​
John Hanlon and Malcolm Sanders

We had a quick look at share market since December and looking forward into 2023 where experts expect a steady rise if China re-enters the iron ore and coal market.

There are 11 sectors in the Australian share market, and this is a big difference to the US. In Australia 48% of the market is made up for financials & materials. In the US IT & Health care make up 41% and financials and materials only 15%.

The members were asked to pick 2 stocks in each of the 11 sectors so we can see the results each month on a Bendigo Invest Watch listing that is live.

Everyone then chose their “monthly” short term stock for review at the March meeting.

John spoke of the importance of spreading investments.  He then referred to the share market in which he has been involved since 1960, and different strategies for investing. John pointed out that he is not a stock picker but prefers the safety of the top 20 shares that pay 100% franked dividends which provide a regular income while also keeping an eye out for opportunities in times of market downturn.

We then investigated broker consensus and company dividends yields, finishing on self-education found at the bottom of the Market Index page.

Then finally, around the table members chose their Long-Term stock to be tabulated and reviewed each month in a spreadsheet.
​

Malcolm Sanders

​At the December meeting of Investment, we announced the winners of the two competitions that have been run each month. John Hanlon won the Monthly Selection competition and Nola McDonald won the Long-Term selection. Both were awarded the usual jar of marmalade plus the applause of the other participants.

We looked at the Bank Reporting Season Scorecard by Hugh Dive which analysed how Westpac, ANZ. CBA, NAB and Macquarie had performed during 2022. We then touched on a light hearted topic of “Why our financial abilities peak at age 53” by James Gruber before considering what sectors of shares we would include in a portfolio constructed for 2023.

Malcolm Sanders showed us the long-term results of the portfolios which had been selected by John, Malcolm, Wende, Les and Bill in 2021. He then awarded Bill a prize of a loaf of bread for his portfolio increasing by 22% in 2022. There was much hilarity at this award.

Margaret Walshe on behalf of the group thanked Margaret Jenkins for her efforts as Convenor of Investment for the past nine years and presented Margaret with a Certificate of Appreciation which all the members of Investment signed. There were more speeches by Malcolm Sanders and Pauline Bailey. Margaret responded saying that she had enjoyed her time as Convenor of Investment, and that they were a wonderful group to be part of.

Our thanks to Bev Lee for coming to take photos of the group again this year.=

​The first session for 2023 will be on Monday 6th of December at the new starting time of 2pm.  It will be led by new convenors Malcolm Sanders and John Hanlon.
​  

Margaret Jenkins

At the November meeting of Investment, we looked at which sectors of the share market had made the most gains over the last year, and also for the period from the beginning of this financial year to mid October 2022. The sectors looked at included the energy, information technology, resources and financial sectors as well as the materials, communication services, health care and industrials sectors.

We also studied the possible effects of the recent Federal Budget on the share market.

Another segment we had was on the best shares that we had all come across during the month.

Malcolm Sanders showed us a comparison on the takeover offer of Pendal by Perpetual, and posed the question is it worth it? The figures he showed were very interesting.

I am pleased to announce that Malcolm Sanders and John Hanlon will be taking over as joint Convenors of Investment in 2023. I have enjoyed my years as Convenor since 2013, but feel that it is time for a new approach. My thanks to everyone who has contributed to our discussions during the last nine years.  

The final meeting of Investment for 2022 will be held on Monday 5th December 2022 at 1.30pm in our U3A room.

​
Margaret Jenkins  

At the September meeting of Investment, we looked at some high yielding shares which had been suggested by Market Index. Although interested in the yield of these shares, we also looked at the total return of each share over a twelve-month period, which is also very important. All the shares looked at had a yield greater than 5% per annum.

Malcolm Sanders showed us about some interesting aspects of various returns from shares which can are seen on the Bendigo Bank trading platform, and which are not readily available on the CommSec platform.

To complete the afternoon, we noted that Mark Bouris had visited the Glasshouse in Benalla in early September as the guest of Ray White Benalla.  Mark had spoken on what the increasing interest rate increases were going to mean to the amount that lending institutions would be willing to lend as a loan for house purchases.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 3 October at 1.30pm in the U3A room.

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Margaret Jenkins 

At the August meeting of Investment, we looked at an article by Shane Oliver titled “A Tonic for Turbulent Times: My Nine Tips for Investing”. This article went back to basics which is always good to think about, especially in the current climate of high inflation, increasing interest rates and uncertainties overseas.

We also looked at a range of shares which had been suggested by Graham Hand and Anthony Aboud. It was suggested that these shares offered potential in the current market.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 5 September at 1.30pm in our U3A room.
​
Margaret Jenkins

At the July meeting of Investment, we looked at figures for the financial year 2021-2022. These figures included gains or losses for each Sector of the market, as well as for the Australian Equity Indices. We noted that for the financial year there had been an overall loss of approximately 10% across most Indices, with the exception of the Small Ordinaries Index which had lost 21% during the past twelve months.

Looking at the Sectors of the Market, we noted that the Utilities and Energy sectors had gained over 20% each, whilst the Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology Sectors had lost over 20% overall.  As usual it is important to consider each stock itself, as individual stocks can vary quite markedly.

In the second section of our meeting, we looked at six Exchange Traded Funds which had been recommended by The Motley Fool as the best performing ETFs in 2021. We noted the five most important stocks in each ETF as well as the per cent return for 1,3,5 and 10 years. To bring this up to date we added the current price, the current distribution and the return per centage for the past 12 months.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 1 August 2022 at 1.30pm in the U3A room.
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Margaret Jenkins

At the June meeting of Investment we reviewed recent events which had influenced changes in the share market in the last month. These included the increase in inflation by 2.1% for the quarter, the volatility of the US market, the China downturn due to their strict COVID policy, the Reserve bank starting to increase rates and the Australian election on May 21 2022.

We noted that the Australian market was down by 5.4% for the year to date. During the past month only the Energy, Material and Industrial sectors had shown an increase overall.

We looked at the major problems facing Australia at the moment such as the huge debt that Australia has accumulated during the pandemic, rising food, petrol and energy costs which are contributing to rising inflation, climate change influences and shortage of staff in a number of areas such as hospitality, retail and engineering. We then had a discussion on how this could affect the share market in the next six months and how to cope with the current situation.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 4 July 2022 at 1.30pm in the U3A room.

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Margaret Jenkins  

At the May meeting of Investment we looked at a video about Bonds supplied by FIIG, a major dealer in Bonds.  The video started with the increase in life expectancy of retirees from 1931 to 2011, and the increasing need for retirees to provide at least in part for their life after retirement.

The video suggested that equities could be risky investments and that real estate may not be readily liquid if funds were required.  On the other hand Bonds, which were really a loan to a company, could be redeemed easily.

To balance this promotional video, one of our members, Les Rodgers gave us his experience with Bonds after our break. Several of our members thanked Les for providing us with a balanced view of investing in Bonds.

We also mentioned ASIC’s (Australian Securities and Investment Commission) crackdown on financial content from people not holding a suitable licence.  Whilst this was primarily aimed at webinars and podcasts, we noted that any information provided needed to be accurate and balanced.

Finally we circulated figures from the Chief Economist produced for the Australian Government which showed the Australian resources and energy exports for 2021/2022. These figures were further divided into the contribution from specific mining sectors such as Steel, Ire Ore, Metallurgical  and Thermal coal, Gas, Oil, uranium etc. The mining sector contributes approximately 10% of GDP.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 6th June at 1.30pm in our U3A room.
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Margaret Jenkins

At the April meeting of Investment we looked at an article by Lewis Jackson which described the Market as entering a new phase. This conclusion was reached due to a series of factors including the Ukrainian Russian conflict, the continued high metal prices and the increasing inflation in both the US and the UK. The article talked about four sectors and 17 stocks which will be affected.

Sometimes our monthly selections show up interesting facts, and this month it gave us two stocks involved with lithium mining which had made very substantial gains for the month.  It will be interesting to see if CXO and AGY continue with the momentum they showed during March.

The next meeting of Investment is on Monday 2nd May in our U3A room at 1.30pm. As part of the program we will be viewing a 40 minute video sent to us by FIIG on Investing in Bonds. This topic has been touched on before. However, having something from one of the main investment houses on Bonds should be worthwhile viewing. All welcome.
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Margaret Jenkins

At the March meeting of Investment, we looked at the Reporting Season in February which had just been completed. Whilst the reporting season had been strong, the shares overall for February showed a slight decrease, but nowhere near as bad as in January.

We looked at an article by Jun Bei Liu  about Six Stocks which were on his radar following the strong reporting season, and then compared those stocks to six blue chip stocks which had also reported.

Due to the choppiness of the market, we then looked at a couple of gold stocks and compared these to two gold based ETFs which are also available on the market.

After the break John Hanlon led the Group in an interesting discussion about Managed Funds. In these uncertain times overseas with the conflict in Ukraine these Managed Funds and also Mortgage Funds can be a more reliable alternative to the share market. Thank you John for your insight into managed funds.

The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 4th April at 1.30pm in our U3A room.
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Margaret Jenkins
   

At the February meeting of Investment we welcomed 16 members who included two new members and two returning members.

We looked at the January 2022 , and a related article by Shane Oliver about Share Market Falls. On the same theme we mentioned five shares which were regarded by Roger Montgomery as quality shares, his view being that quality shares fall less and recover first in a share market downturn such as we have just experienced.  

After our tea break, we had a good discussion regarding what papers or articles each of us follow and read. This probably gave our newer members an insight into what other members consider to be worthwhile advice.

​The next meeting of Investment will be on Monday 7th March 2022 at 1.30pm in our U3A room. 
​
Margaret Jenkins 

At the December Meeting of Investment held in our U3A room, winners of the two small competitions that we have held throughout the year were announced.

Les Rodgers won the Monthly Selection competition whilst Malcolm Sanders won the Long Term selection.  Both winners were awarded the usual jar of jam.

During the latter part of 2021 Malcolm Sanders had asked members of Investment to suggest a portfolio worth $300,000 for a new retiree. The idea was that we ran with these portfolios for four months, and then saw which portfolio made the biggest increase. We had five people who participated and the winner was Les Rodgers who gained another jar of jam and a loaf of bread to go with it. Thank you Malcolm for running this competition.

During the first part of the afternoon Malcolm showed us an aspect of his share dealing, and also accessed two videos for us to watch.

After afternoon tea we looked at nine shares to watch. These different companies came from the Materials, Information Technology and Health Care sectors and all had interesting aspects which made them worthwhile putting on a watch list for a couple of months.

As this is our last report for 2021, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas. Hope to see you all again in 2022.

Margaret Jenkins

It was so good to have the November meeting of Investment in the U3A room and to see everyone again. We welcomed a new member Tony Bayfield to our group, and hope he enjoys and participates in our discussions.

We looked at an article “Road Bumps and Opportunities on the Way to a Cleaner Future” by John Cowling which covered seventy three countries including Australia which have targeted net zero emissions before 2050. In the article the last point listed was key minerals required to achieve this target which included lithium, nickel and rare earths.

The second article we looked at was “Four Key Materials for Batteries – and Nine companies that will benefit”. We studied the nine companies listed including what materials they were exploring for and where, the current price of shares in the company, and the yield the company was returning to shareholders.

The final meeting of Investment for 2021 will be held on Monday 6th December 2021 at 1.30pm in the U3A room at the Seniors Centre.
​

Margaret Jenkins  

The October meeting of Investment was held On Line due to COVID restrictions. This year we have had to be adaptable with using Zoom at very little notice.

We looked at three demographic themes which could shape investments for the future. These were an ageing population, population growth and a growing middle class. One aspect of the discussion was that Australia had the 13th largest economy in the world, but with just over 25 million people it was comparatively rich on a per capita basis. We also noted that the COVID pandemic has seen substantial population movement from the cities to regional areas.

We also noted that CommSec had produced a list of 22 income producing stocks, all with returns of 3.6% or above. The majority of the charts of these stocks were going sideways and included some banks, shopping centres and some industrial stocks.

Due to the fact that the numbers allowed in the Senior’s Centre are currently capped at 30, and the Senior Citizens are playing bowls on a Friday afternoon, we have changed our meeting time to 1.30pm on the first Monday of the month. So we are looking forward to seeing you all on Monday 1 November 2021 at 1.30pm.
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Margaret Jenkins