Past Events

We held our first seminar for the year on “Our Preferred Investments for 2019 and Why” on Wednesday 27th February at Riversdale Golf Club. This topic was extremely popular amongst our clients and their guests, with the seminar being fully booked.

The presenters on the night were GFM advisers – James Malliaros, Patrick Malcolm and Paul Nicol.

Their presentation provided an insight on how GFM Wealth selects investments, constructs portfolios, and provided information on our research and investment selection process.

The topics covered included:

• The GFM research process and investment committee
• With so many available investments, how do we filter down which companies or investments to research?
• What available tools do we (GFM) have to give us the edge when selecting investments and constructing portfolios?
• Why reliable yield is critically important to investment returns
• Constructing lower risk investment portfolios
• Our preferred investments for 2019

The feedback from attendees was positive, with 94% rating the relevance/usefulness of the topic as “Excellent”.

We concluded the evening with some drinks and canapés. Our team enjoyed the opportunity to have a drink and a chat with our clients.

We held our Market Update & Outlook for 2019 Seminar on Monday 19th November at Riversdale Golf Club. The seminar covered investment market activity during 2018 and the outlook for 2019.

Our special guest presenter on the night was James Holt, who is the Senior Investment Specialist for Equities at Perpetual Investments.

James is responsible for providing technical investment support to financial advisers and investors of Perpetual Investments’ equity funds. James has worked in the financial services industry for over eighteen years. Prior to joining Perpetual Investments in 2014, James was a Director and Investment Specialist with the Portfolio Management Group of Black Rock Australia and Senior Investment Specialist at Zurich Investments.

James discussed the key themes for 2019 and provided a detailed overview of the global economic backdrop, and how this is likely to affect investment markets over the next few years.

James’s presentation covered the following:

• The US economy has kicked into high gear, and interest rates are on the rise there
• Trade and Twitter wars rage in the background
• The Australian economy continues to chug along, but the housing market has begun to weaken
• What does it all mean for investment markets?
• Looking at investment themes as 2019 starts to come into view

This was the third year that James had presented to our clients and the feedback was excellent. There was an abundance of questions from very interested clients.

As this was our last seminar for the year we concluded the evening with some celebratory drinks and canapés. Our team enjoyed the opportunity to have a drink and a chat with our clients.

On Monday 3rd September 2018, we held an Estate Planning seminar at Leonda by the Yarra on this crucial topic. Our guest presenters were Jennifer Dixon, Practice Leader and Greg Oliver, Senior Lawyer from Moores Legal.

The seminar focused on a range of Estate planning topics including, Wills, Significance of Asset Ownership, Powers of Attorney and the Family Court. The session was informative and was well attended by 150 clients. The feedback was excellent, and some of the attendees have since taken action in getting their estate planning affairs in order.

Estate planning is a complex area, and it is essential to review your estate plan on a regular basis.

If would like a copy of the presentation, please email mai@gfmwealth.com.au

As most would be aware, GFM hosts several educational seminars each year. We are very fortunate to have access to the portfolio managers of which our clients invest. These sessions are extremely popular as our clients have the opportunity to hear directly from the portfolio manager and ask questions. The attendees do ask some very good questions!

On Monday 30th July, we had our special guest presenter Nick Greenway, Portfolio Manager for the Ironbark Karara Australian Small Companies Fund present to our clients. The feedback was extremely positive with attendees commenting on how well Nick explained the Ironbark Karara process of buying small companies.

Nick’s presentation gave a very good insight as to how a professional small-cap fund manager constructs a small cap portfolio that works. Nick’s presentation covered the following:

• What’s happening both in the domestic and Global economy at present
• What are the current investment themes driving market returns at present
• A market outlook for small Australian companies over the coming 12 months
• An insight into the investment processes and analytical framework of the Ironbark Karara Investment Team
• An overview of some of the preferred stocks held within the Ironbark Karara portfolio

Nick spoke openly on the more attractive stocks held in the Ironbark Karara portfolio, and why he thinks they will continue to deliver good results.

On the 9th of May, we had a full audience of investors listening to our special guest presenters Arik Star, Portfolio Manager of Ellerston Global Investments (EGI) and Mary Manning, Portfolio Manager of Ellerston Asian Investments (EAI).

EGI and EAI, provide an opportunity to invest in an international share portfolio via the ASX in the form of a Listed Investment Company (LIC).

Arik and Mary covered the following in their presentation:

• An overview of the current global Macroeconomic environment
• Why Asia is a compelling investment opportunity
• An insight into the investment processes and analytical framework of the Ellerston team
• A high-level overview of the current portfolio positioning of both investments
• An overview of some of the key companies held in both portfolios

On April 18 we also had very strong attendance to our presentation on “How an SMSF Works in Retirement: Are you set up correctly?” The presenters were James Malliaros, Nicola Beswick and Paul Nicol.

At our seminar “How an SMSF Works in Retirement: Are you set up correctly?” we presented on how an SMSF should look leading into retirement and during retirement. The topics covered included:

• Advantages of SMSFs
• The right Trustee Structure for your SMSF
• Estate Planning within your SMSF
• The Right cash flow model for your SMSF
• Investments best suited to an SMSF in retirement
• Centrelink and SMSFs
• Smart SMSF Strategies

The feedback from the attendees was excellent. They found the presentation interesting and very informative.

On February 28 we had a packed audience listening to our presentation on “How to Beat the Average Investor”. The presenters were Paul Nicol, Patrick Malcolm and James Malliaros.

At our seminar “How to Beat the Average Investor” we presented on how GFM goes about selecting investments and constructing portfolios on behalf of our clients. We also provided an in-depth insight into our investment process and investment selection to help those in attendance understand our process of constructing high-quality portfolios. Other topics covered included:

• Why Asset Allocation is critical to portfolio returns
• Understanding risk and return
• How we go about selecting investments
• How we go about constructing portfolios
• Why yield is essential for pre-retirees and retirees
• How to reduce risk in a portfolio

The feedback from the attendees was excellent.

We held our last Quarterly Business Lunch on Monday 4th September 2017 at Riversdale Golf Club. Our special guest presenter was Stefan Marcionetti who is the Assistant Portfolio Manager to lead portfolio manager Hamish Douglass.

This function was well attended by investors in the Magellan Global Fund. The Magellan Global Fund invests in a concentrated group of some of the biggest companies in the world. At present, the top 10 holdings of the Fund are dominated by technology stocks including Apple, Alphabet (Google), Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle and eBay. Much of the presentation focussed on the pace of technological change in the past 10 years and the rising concern of disruptive technology and what it all means for constructing a high quality share portfolio.

We were very fortunate to have Stefan present, looking “under the bonnet” of Magellan’s investment process and stock positions. The attendees found the presentation of great interest and extremely worthwhile.

We held our first seminar for the year on the very important topic “2016 Federal Budget Superannuation Changes” on Monday 13th February at Riversdale Golf Club. There was a huge demand and the evening seminar was booked out very quickly, so to accommodate everyone, we also hosted a lunch seminar. Both sessions were well attended by almost 200 clients and guests and the feedback was excellent.

James Malliaros, Patrick Malcolm and Paul Nicol provided an overview of the many ways in which you may be impacted by the proposed changes and the opportunities that may exist within these changes prior to the 1st of July. Topics that we were covered included:

• Introduction of a $1.6 million transfer balance cap
• Changes to the taxation of Transition to Retirement (TtR) pensions
• A reduction to the concessional contribution (pre-tax) cap and allowing catch up concessional contributions
• Taxation deductions for personal concessional contributions
• A reduction in the non-concessional (post tax) contribution caps
• Once off opportunities prior to June 30 for non-concessional contributions before the transfer balance cap and reduced non-concessional contribution limit comes into effect
• Low Income Super Tax Offset and Spouse Contributions

The super reform package has made superannuation even more complex. It is virtually impossible for the average person to understand the complexities of the superannuation system and high quality advice will be paramount.

If you didn’t attend the seminar and would like a copy of the presentation or would like to make a time with your financial adviser to discuss, please call Mai on 9809 1221.

We will be holding a specific seminar for individuals who might be impacted by the $1.6m transfer balance cap, on Wednesday 29th March 2017.

We held our Market Update & Outlook for 2016 Seminar on Wednesday 18th November at Riversdale Golf Club with 108 clients and guests in attendance. The seminar covered investment market activity during 2015 and the outlook for 2016.

Our special guest presenter was Matt Sherwood who is Perpetual’s Head of Investment Strategy, Multi Assets. In this role, Matt responsible for monitoring, analysing and forecasting factors for earnings growth, economic growth, interest rates, currencies and the policy implications for both Australian and the broader global region.

We were very fortunate to have had Matt present to our clients for a sixth year and the feedback again was excellent.

Matt provided an overview of the global economic backdrop, and how this is likely to affect investment markets over the next few years.

Matt’s presentation covered the following:

• 2015 has been an underwhelming year for markets from all perspectives.
• Global growth dynamics reflect an unresolved debt burden, waning demographics, sustained excess capacity, patchy demand growth, soft labour markets and subdued commodity prices.
  - companies will remain focused on cost and capital management.
  - global policy is aimed to deliver favourable financial conditions.
• The great policy mistake of the post-GFC era.
• Australia and it’s income recession
• How does one manage for returns when risk is broad-based, valuations are fully priced and policy options are constrained?

As this was our last seminar for the year we concluded the evening with some celebratory drinks and canapés. Our team enjoyed the opportunity to have a drink and a chat with our clients.

We held our lunch seminar on Monday 7th September 2015 at Riversdale Golf Club where we discussed the Centrelink system. There have been some very significant changes to the age pension system over the last 6 months. From the 1st January 2015, new Account Based Pensions (ABP) are deemed for the Centrelink Income Test and effective from the 1st January 2017 there will be changes to the Assets Test thresholds.

The session gave those currently receiving the age pension an understanding of what impact these new changes will have.

This was a very popular topic and we had a full house, having 119 clients and guests attend on the day.

Paul Nicol and Patrick Malcolm were the presenters on the day. Their presentation covered:

• Overview of the Centrelink/DVA Age Pension System
• The benefits of seeking advice
• Eligibility – Asset and Income Tests
• Deeming
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
• Important Changes to the Assets Test
• Practical Case Studies

The feedback from the attendees was excellent, they found it most informative and told us they gained significant benefit from attending.

Centrelink planning is a complex and important part of the financial planning process and not understanding the system can lead to sub-optimal results.

If you would like to make a time with your adviser to discuss Centrelink Age Pension Planning or if you were unable to attend and would like a copy of the presentation, please call Mai on 9809 1221.