MLC Market Watch

While the Australian sharemarket ended the month down, MLC bond strategies helped provide a buffer producing solid returns as yields fell.

In this update, MLC Investment Management’s Natalie Comino looks at:

• the effects of resurfacing European debt woes on Australian and global sharemarkets
• Australian dollar performance
• what it all means for your MLC investments.

View the MLC Fund Performance Update video here.

Download Natalie Comino video script.

The recent volatility in sharemarkets has put the role of debt in a portfolio under the spotlight. Natalie Comino looks at the value of debt in an investor’s portfolio.

 
Her analysis includes:

• the advantages of debt over shares
• the impact of interest rates on debt, and
• debt strategy in uncertain times.

View the Natalie Comino video here.

As part of our monthly Market Watch video series, MLC Senior Investment Specialist Natalie Comino presented six golden rules of investing.

Here’s the transcript from her video:

Golden rule number one is never lose sight of the fact that risk and return are related. This is easy to do when we’re in a bull market and double-digit returns are taken as the norm. However if you are looking for higher returns, you have to be willing to take on more risk. This means the value of your investment could change dramatically over a short period of time. The higher this volatility, the riskier these types of assets are.

Over the long term, growth assets like shares and property are expected to earn higher returns. But these investments will be more volatile so you will need a long time horizon and a strong stomach to ride the ups and downs you’ll experience. If you’re not prepared for this, then you might want to consider a more conservative strategy or assets that are expected to earn lower returns but are usually more stable performers, like cash and debt securities.

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Our first topic in the Market Watch video series is now available.

View ‘Facing the challenges of 2009′ here. It includes:

• - a market update by MLC Investment Strategist Brian Parker
• - a funds update by MLC Senior Investment Specialist John Owen
• - six golden rules of investing by MLC Senior Investment Specialist Natalie Comino

Brian Parker will be providing monthly market updates as part of the series.

So why not subscribe to updates so you know when a new video is added to the site?

Want to find out more about a specific topic? Send us a question.

Watch this space to find out what’s next in the series.

Tune in for the Market Watch video series which will begin on Thursday 26 February.

Our first topic ‘Facing the challenges of 2009′ will run for around 15 minutes and include:

• a market update by MLC Investment Strategist Brian Parker
• a funds update by MLC Senior Investment Specialist John Owen
• six golden rules of investing by MLC Senior Investment Specialist Natalie Comino

Regular market updates

Brian will then continue to provide a market update at the end of each month going forward. He will explain what’s been happening that month and how this is likely to affect you.

Submit a question if there’s something you’re interested in hearing more about. This will allow Brian to shape his content to the areas of most interest.

You may also want to subscribe to updates so you know when a new video is added to the site.

Watch this space to find out what’s next in the series.