Mark Beyer

THE olive industry has grown rapidly over recent years and nearly a dozen olive projects are currently being marketed to investors.

THE Australian Tax Office has had a dramatic impact on the tax-effective investment sector over the past two years.However, participants in new projects can feel confident that a favourable tax regime will apply to their investments.

WHEN mining giant WMC decided last year to offload its gold business, it created new growth opportunities for other mining companies.

GRESHAM Advisory Partners appears to have a privileged position in the corporate advisory market.

EQUITY capital raisings (initial public offerings, placements and rights issues) represent one of the key segments in the corporate finance market.

A handful of stockbrokers are lead managers for the vast bulk of capital raisings for WA Companies.

TOP Perth corporate adviser Charles Fear is setting up his own business under the name Argonaut Capital.Argonaut will be one of the few corporate advisory groups that does not target the mining and technology sectors.

THE introduction of a new system for calculating ASX indices will have major implications for some of Australia’s biggest companies.

ONE of the perennial discussion points among investors and advisers is trying to decide the best way to invest in the stock market. Should you buy shares directly through a stockbroker or invest in managed funds?

ONE of the reasons many investors put their money with major fund management groups is to benefit from their depth of knowledge and expertise.

Virtually all wage and salary earners in Australia receive compulsory superannuation contributions every year, equivalent to 8% of their salary.

Superannuation remains a dark mystery for many Australians, even though 8% of our salaries (9% from July 1) are paid into super funds each and every year.

ONLINE investment services are becoming an increasingly popular way of buying and selling managed investments.About 65,000 people have used the Internet to invest inmanaged funds, according to ACNielsen.consult senior analyst Mark Johnston.

The local stockbring industry has undergone a dramatic change in the past 18 month with the withdrawal of most of the big US firms from Perth. And that’s created enormous opportunities for those brokers who have stayed a traditional course.

IT’S hard to walk down a city street or read a magazine these days without seeing a Colonial First State advertisement.

ONE of the interesting trading strategies involving instalment warrants is known as cash extraction.It is designed for investors who currently hold shares and want to free up some cash.

THE Australian warrants market continues to attract interest from investors and traders, with highly leveraged instalment warrants ‘coming of age’ last year.

AUSTRALIA’S fledgling exchange traded fund (ETF) market has continued its steady growth with the launch of the first property-based product.

SALARY packaging is a practice normally associated with high-income earners with executive cars and the latest laptop computers.

LIFE insurance is a bit like retirement planning. It doesn’t seem relevant when you are young, but at some point you realise that it needs to be sorted out.

MANY Australians have a very narrow approach to personal investment. In most cases, it simply involves gearing into rental properties and buying one or two blue chip shares via a privatisation (Telstra or Commonwealth Bank) or demutualisation (AMP).

THE timing and strength of the US economic recovery is shaping up as the key driver of Australian interest rates over the coming 12 months.

A REBOUND in ASX-listed IT companies has been forecast by Commonwealth Research, after two years of big losses.

WITH the dust having settled on 2001, some salient lessons have emerged for investors.For most people, 2001 will be remembered as a time of political and commercial up-heaval.

SELF-MANAGED superannuation funds have recently received a timely reminder about the hoops they must jump through to satisfy the regulators.

GEARING is widely accepted as a sound strategy for investors who want to increase their market exposure.In simple terms, it means borrowing money in order to buy income-producing assets, typically shares or property.

THE recent spate of corporate collapses and the wave of corporate downsizing now under way are forcing many people to suddenly confront their retirement prospects.

LAST week’s article discussed hedge funds and some of the innovative investment strategies they employ to achieve their goals.Both...

HEDGE funds, once the pre-serve of wealthy individuals and institutions, are now readily available to Australian retail investors.

MOST share market analysis focuses on Australia’s large companies and, as a result, neglects the numerous smaller companies listed on the ASX.To some extent this is understandable.

WHILE most people have an abundance of housing loan options, many individuals do not fit the standard criteria of mainstream lenders.

MONITOR Money has become the fourth Australian financial advisory network owned by AXA Asia Pacific.AXA announced last week the purchase of Monitor Money and a leading New Zealand advisory group, Spicers, for $201 million.