Digging through a filing cabinet last week I happened across a copy of The Advocate newspaper from July 1999.
The reason for the keepsake? A business profile where I’d featured with significantly more hair!
Finding the money section was an interesting reminder on the ever changing (and ever stagnant) areas of the financial industry.
In the advertising, Trust Bank was offering four month term deposits at 4.25%, but if you were prepared to park your money for 7-11 months, they’d give you 5.2%.
For the kids, Trust Bank was sold by the state government only a few months later to Colonial Bank, who themselves were swallowed by Commonwealth Bank eight months later.
Trust Bank offered a standard variable home loan rate of 6.55%.
When it came to the actual words, evergreen columnist Bill Harcourt was discussing the seedy world of vested interests in financial journalism – don’t take anything at face value.
Most interesting was a section on gold, when even then the internet was abuzz with conspiracy theories about gold being held down by various dark forces!
While gold’s price of $385 Australian at the time looked comparatively low by today’s price, it was still 45% below its July 1980 average of $707 Australian.
There were worries about China, back then it was the spectre of currency devaluation to make its exports more competitive.
Markets were taking a dive, yet history shows the ASX 300 Accumulation Index eventually finished 1999 up 16.1%.
In Harcourt’s portfolio of eleven companies, five have since been taken over, while the remaining companies comprised varying returns.
Woodside Petroleum, then $10.95 to $37.20 at writing, Circadian Technologies, $1.25 to 25 cents, NAB $24.45 to $29.79, TAB $3.04 to $3.33 and Telstra $8.71 to $4.79.
Again, passing time and the loss of follicles reminds us of the benefits of diversification and staying disciplined, as the ASX 300 Accumulation Index returned an annualised 8% since July 1999.
Peter Mancell is a director of Mancell Financial Group and FYG Planners AFSL/ACL 224543, www.mfg.com.au This information is general in nature and readers should seek professional advice specific to their circumstances. Looking for the top financial adviser in Australia? We think we’re it.
