Affinity Insights – Issue 9 June 2019

Welcome to Affinity Insights!

Welcome back to Affinity Insights. Here in the office we are busily preparing for the end of financial year and our winter coats have officially been pulled out from the back of our closets.

I was lucky enough to be invited to partake in a study tour of the US in April. The tour focussed on the evolution of CRM digital technology in the last 10 years, the significant influence and disruption that technology is placing on all industries and lastly how investor psychology has been impacted due to the inundation of economic and market news.

I visited the headquarters of some of the world’s largest and market leading companies in their fields, including Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Capitol Records and Paramount Studios.

However, I found the opportunity to tour and learn about Stanford University and their research on Unicorns (privately owned $1B+ market cap) the most rewarding.

This highlighted to me the importance of looking beyond traditional asset classes (using private equity and infrastructure) when building client portfolios.

We would like to thank Jason Isherwood from CORE Property Advisory for his contribution to this issue, Jason presents his take on the current property market.

In this issue of Affinity Insights, we introduce our new SMS meeting confirmation system and welcome our newest team member Phoebe Heung.

We do hope you enjoy this issue of Affinity Insights, and we welcome any feedback or suggestions for future topics.

Christopher Joye from the Australian Financial Review (May 24, 2019) recently wrote how “a ‘quadruple whammy’ of factors has led to improvement in the housing outlook, and caused some economists to bring forward the timing on their original predictions of a market trough”. To read the original article click here. 

Fortune is favouring the brave buyers, who, sitting on cash have purchased in the ‘uncertain times’ in the lead up to the national election and in the wake of the lingering Royal Commission ‘noise’. This has placed buyers in a position of power, leaving vendors in a skittish and weak position.

Property ‘bargains’ are beginning to dry up, as more readily available money is starting to flow back into a sector creating a renewed confidence, forming a property market that is poised to rebound.

Attributing to the shift in the property outlook, are the following ‘Quadruple Whammy’ of factors heralded in the Financial Review:

• • Property markets corrected swiftly and are now more affordable
  • The Liberal Party surprise victory has meant:
    • 50% CGT discount for property remains
    • Negative gearing is here to stay
  • APRA’s likely easing of lending rules means up to 15-20% increased borrowing power for purchasers
  • RBA cut rates to all-time low on Tuesday 4^th June 2019, with more cuts forecast within coming months

Clearance rates have increased for three weeks straight, however, these changes will take a few months to fully work their way into the market, allowing buyers to still take advantages of the current conditions.

Our specialist buyers advocate team at CORE Property Advisory, are still securing quality properties at significant discounts for our private clients – many of these Off-Market and Pre-Auction.

For a confidential discussion about your property requirements, please contact your Affinity Advisor and we will introduce you to a variety of advocates to meet your needs.

We would like to make you aware of our latest procedural change. In the coming weeks we will be implementing a new SMS system for confirming review meetings. We will send you an SMS two weeks prior to your booked meeting, to confirm that you are still available to attend at the planned date and time. It would be greatly appreciated if you could reply YES to your SMS so we can adequately start preparing for your confirmed meeting. Should you be unable to attend please call the office on 1300 769 304 to reschedule your meeting. If you have any queries or concerns about us implementing this system for you, please do not hesitate to speak directly to your advisor.

There are new insurance opt-in requirements for super fund accounts deemed ‘inactive’. An ’inactive’ account is where no amount has been received by the Fund, meaning no contributions and/or rollovers have been received since 1 March 2018. New legislative requirements have mandated that insurance policies must be cancelled if there is 16 months of continuous inactivity.

Super fund members will have recently received a letter or email outlining the opt-in process to ensure they retain their insurance benefits. Certain members will find their insurance will lapse if they do not respond to their opt-in before 28 June 2019.

Please contact your Affinity Advisor for further clarification if required.

Phoebe Heung joins the Affinity team as a Junior Associate. Phoebe has 10 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Previous roles in operations management and administration have allowed her to gain an holistic perspective of wealth management. Phoebe has worked alongside advisers in her past roles, all of which required a strong focus on providing exceptional client service.

Phoebe values education and has completed a Diploma of Financial Services and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance & Accounting).  Phoebe takes pride in her dutiful attention to detail and her thorough financial services knowledge, allowing her to provide the best service to Affinity clients.

In her spare time, Phoebe travels nationally and internationally participating in competitions as a salsa dancer.

Phoebe is looking forward to getting to know the Affinity clients across the next few months. We would like to welcome Phoebe to our team and wish her all the very best.

One of the important take outs from of the Banking Royal Commission is that poor corporate culture not only leads to bad outcomes for customers but also for investors.

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne harshly criticised NAB for a culture that did not genuinely admit its failures.

Unhappy clients affected by the fees-for-no-service scandal joined disgruntled shareholders who have seen their shares fall in value by more than 20 per cent over the past five years.

While admittedly not a like-for-like comparison, a company famous for its focus on culture — Netflix — is up more than 450 per cent over the same period. These are not isolated examples.

Numerous studies demonstrate that companies with a positive workplace culture consistently deliver superior investment returns.

You can read more of Catherine’s article here.

Look back to the early-2000s, and a list of the worlds most valued brands might be surprising.

In the linked animation from TheRankings, you can see how the top 15 global brands have shifted over the last two decades.

Watch the animation here

Source: Visual Capitalist, Animation: The Top 15 Global Brands (2000-2018) Jeff Desjardins, February 25, 2019

Catherine Robson recently appeared as a guest on the podcast This Working Life, hosted by Lisa Leong.  The pair discussed the book The Courage to Be Disliked by Japanese philosopher Ichiro Kishimi and writer Fumitake Koga. The book explores the ideas of the 19^th and 20^th century Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler. Lisa and Catherine dissect Adler’s principles, and how having the courage to be disliked can help in the workplace.

Listen to the podcast on the ABC website here, or on the This Working Life apple podcast page.