Moom's Taxes: Part 2

I only underestimated the amount of extra taxes that I owe by $5. I don't know why I also wasn't charged an extra amount of tax for private health insurance. That part of the tax return is complicated to understand. Maybe I filled out Snork Maiden's return incorrectly?

UBS are Recommending 34% Allocation to US Fixed Income - Really?

UBS recommending 34% allocation to US fixed income. I guess this might makes sense if they mean treasury bills (90 day maturity). Don't pay any interest (but not negative like some places in Europe) but US Dollar might still appreciate. Longer term US bonds seem risky if interest rates will eventually go up. I wouldn't rule out though us being in a new long-term zero risk free rate equilibrium. I suppose that this allocation was intended for US clients?

My Mom's money managed now fully by UBS (but she is near their minimum entry level net worth, not what they think of as wealthy) is mostly in fixed income now due to the court order we got. Actually, it looks like that there are no US government bonds or corporate bonds in her account at all, though they are all US Dollar bonds. Things like World Bank, Province of Ontario, EBRD, African Development Bank, Statoil, Shell, Swedish Export Credit Corp etc.

Snorkmaiden's taxes: Part 2

Back in July I computed Snork Maiden's taxes for the 2014-15 financial year. I estimated she owed $169 in extra tax. When I actually submitted her tax return more recently I had refined that to $147. But in fact the letter from the ATO today says she owes $292. Why? There is a $145 "Excess private health fund reduction or refund (rebate reduced) item" on the notice of assessment. I guess our family income turned out to be too high and we won't get as large a tax rebate on private health insurance?

Moomin Valley Report October 2015

This month stock markets rebounded. The ASX 200 rose 4.37%, the MSCI World Index rose 7.87%, and the S&P 500 rose 8.44%. The Australian Dollar rose for a change from $US0.702 to $US0.7133. We gained 5.3% in Australian Dollar terms and 7.00% in US Dollar terms. So we outperformed the Australian market and underperformed the international market again. The only asset class that lost money was commodities. Private equity gained 12.86%! The top individual performer was the CFS Geared Share Fund gaining $23k followed by our two employer superannuation funds. The two private equity funds IPE.AX, OCP.AX, were next. IPE announced a share buyback. OCP sold part of one of its investments for the carrying value. It is still trading a lot below the stated book value though.

Net worth rose $A69k including housing equity ($US65k) to $1.490 million ($US1.063 million). The monthly accounts (in AUD) follow:

Spending was a bit high. We spent $7.4k not including mortgage payments and $6.9k without business expenses. The garden redesign got started. Most of this I will treat as spending but a new additional fence and gate etc. I will treat as investment. There was just a $500 deposit for that this month. That increases the "transfer to housing".

We saved $2.4k on the current account, $3.2k in retirement accounts, and $1.9k in housing equity. We paid $1,757 in mortgage interest, saving $431 in interest due to cash in our offset account.