(03) 9020 2905

Welcome to Bruce Brammall Financial

Don’t panic, big opportunities are knocking

It feels spooky out on the financial streets at the moment. A bit Twilight Zone – The Movie: “You want to see something really scary?” You can sense that, maybe, a Bad Moon Rising is just around the corner. A little over the hill, or beyond the horizon. It’s a little difficult to pinpoint exactly […]

Get your DIY fund back into gear

PORTFOLIO POINT: Super fund members and trustees will face a barrage of offers to help rebuild their battered super balances. Some will be product based, others strategy based. Here’s one strategy worth considering. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. And as super fund members and trustees prepare for a long slog trying […]

Sherry tightens focus on DIY borrowing

PORTFOLIO POINT: Tighter legislation of our now 400,000-plus DIY funds is on the way. Just don’t expect it to be rushed. However, minimum balance requirements are off the agenda. That DIY super hasn’t had the “new government treatment” so far does not mean that Superannuation Minister Senator Nick Sherry isn’t ready to pounce and rewrite […]

Survival guide for the (next) recession

Funny thing about recessions. They tend not to happen often enough, or for long enough, to learn valuable lessons from them. Once a generation isn’t regularly enough to get used to them, let alone to really get to enjoy them. They might happen once when you’re 20. And then you don’t get another one until […]

DIY and property stars align

PORTFOLIO POINT: The great super fund property opportunity has yet to materialise. But falling property prices and maturing infrastructure could get super funds and gearing dancing soon. When the twin “super tsunamis” were unleashed in 2007, it was accepted that it would be some time before their full impact would be seen. Simpler Super made […]

What do you think your life is worth

Life’s “X factor” is provided by the stuff that doesn’t happen everyday. The unpredictable. As a percentage, probably 90-95 per cent of our time is spent doing mundane tasks – sleeping, eating, showering, driving, exercising, chatting, shopping and working. (Though Debt Man doesn’t waste too much of his life exercising.) That means most of our […]

Safer super options

PORTFOLIO POINT: Don’t surrender to the gloom – super is a superior retirement savings vehicle. Here are some other super investment options to consider. There appears a real danger that Australians are going to give up on superannuation as a preferred wealth creation vehicle. A survey released this week shows disturbing pessimism. The number of […]

Super funds brace for news

The fallout for the superannuation industry from the calamitous state of investment markets to the end of 2008 continues to worry everyone. The nails of officialdom are being chewed to the bit. In recent weeks, we’ve seen the government consider suspending rules about minimum pension drawdowns, to allow people to protect how much money they […]

How to spot a fake – it will revert to mean

It’s a sad fact that so many great things in life that seem so real turn out to be so fake. And it’s us poor punters who are usually last to catch on. Finally finding out only make us feel the right twit. TakeMilliVanilli. How was the record-buying public to know thatRobPilatusand Fab Morvan had […]

Don ‘t rely on dividends

PORTFOLIO POINT: If you’re worried about your funds’ income, listen up. The next couple of months are going to bring some shocks. If 2008 was a “nightmare for capital”, the sequel in 2009 could well be a “black hole for income”. With the way the investment stars are lining up, this seems to be increasingly […]