The barbecue stopper
By Jim Parker, Regional Director, DFA Australia Limited*
Before we know it, the Australian summer barbecue season will be here – a time when many of us spend our weekends standing around a burner in someone’s backyard discussing the state of the world. When it’s male-dominated, the chit-chat over smoking steaks usually starts with the weather, before progressing to sport, television and New Year’s resolutions. Sooner or later, the question of investment crops up.
These barbecue conversations about money can be a little exasperating, particularly if you’re a long-term buy-and-hold investor with a diversified portfolio structured around the known sources of risk and return. So picture a group of people standing around a barbecue on a summer evening. The small talk exhausted, one guest who’s had a particularly good year in the markets, changes the subject to investment… “My broker told me to put a bundle on BHP and Rio this year,” he says, in between swigs on a can of expensive imported beer. “Best thing I ever did.” (more…)