(03) 9020 2905Like mooning an avalanche as it rolls down the icy slope, sunbaking on the beach after a tsunami warning, or sticking your pinky in the leaking dyke.
Somewhere between utterly pointless and unarguably dangerous.
If you invest in Australian shares, you can avoid the bastard banks and the earth-raping and pillaging mining stocks.
But why in the name of Buddha would you?
Personal political beliefs? Okay, there’s the whole Midnight Oil Blue Sky Mining thing. If you are philosophically opposed to digging up dirt, then okay. And if you hate banks because they are the epitome of nasty, evil, capitalism … then you’re probably not reading money pages anyway.
Australia’s banks are the strongest and most profitable in our solar system. And our major miners are selling dirt we don’t need, or can’t use, for ba-zillions.
Yes, Australia’s share market is overweight financials and resources. Every country is overweight something. But I’m kind of keen on solid companies that have a licence to print money over the long term.
None, one or both? I’m a both kind of guy. That’s partly because I’m a diversification kind of guy and an index fund kind of guy. And ignoring the two largest parts of our share market is like cutting off your own nose to spite Barbara Streisand’s considerable schnozz.
If you believe they’re bad investments, then all power to you. But you’ll need to revisit what your super fund and any managed funds are in. Almost certainly, they’ll have significant investments in these two sectors.
Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and principal adviser with Castellan Financial Consulting.