Moomin Valley

Finally. It's two months worth of pay. I paid off the credit card bill which was around $A3,800. Now we have $A6,000 worth of borrowing ...

As promised this post looks at the performance of our target portfolio from the perspective of an Australian investor. As I did in a post i...

Now all the unlisted fund returns are in for March I can present the final performance numbers. Australian Large Cap stocks, mainly via the ...

This post follows up with the performance in the last 4 month of the asset classes I discussed in the context of endowment style portfolios ...

A phenomenon we've encountered in Australia but didn't see in the United States is discount department stores that give a lower pric...

U.S. High School "Advanced Placement Economics Test courtesy of the New York Times. I got 18/18 but for a couple of questions that was...

As there is so little in both my US brokerage accounts, I can't see much sense in keeping both open. Though Interactive Brokers charges ...

I sold some shares in Platinum Capital (PMC.AX) to bring my allocation to the fund back under 5% of net assets and the gross asset allocatio...

The table shows our total automatic saving on a monthly basis. Unisuper and PSS(AP) are superannuation funds - the Australian equivalent of...

Credit Suisse/Tremont have lowered their estimate of hedge fund returns for March to 0.68%. HFRX have not changed their estimate from -0.03...

In this final post in this series I'm going to look at the investment choice in my super fund. You can either choose a preset mix of a...

I've run a few different scenarios to work out whether I should go for the defined benefit or defined contribution option. Scenario 1: W...

The major decision I need to make in response to receiving my job contract is which type of superannuation (retirement) scheme to join. Yes...

According to an article in the Australia the Treasury Department says that the average wealth of Australians fell from $A249,000 in 2007 to...

I finally got my contract today. Last night on Snork Maiden's insistence I sent another e-mail to human resources and my supervisor imme...

My paper was accepted for the Venice meeting. But as I mentioned , I can't use project funding for the trip. Registration would be E450 ...

Last night, Snork Maiden and I booked a trip to Port Douglas (about one hour's drive north of Cairns in Northern Queensland) for us and ...

The answer to my question: "Can I use project funds to go to Europe" is "No". So I just wrote to the conference organiz...

With 55% of funds reporting Credit Suisse/Tremont estimate that hedge funds gained 0.86% on average in March. It's better than HFR's...

A Black Swan in Canberra Nicholas Taleb has http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d5aa24e-23a4-11de-996a-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1">an ...

We gained this month and so did the markets and we beat the market again. The following is based on the available data as a couple of funds ...

The HFRX index is showing a 0.03% decline for March while stock indices rose more than 8% globally for the month. But a lot of the componen...

The returns for each asset class are also net of any movements in currencies. Losses have been adjusted up a bit since the close of the mont...

Snork Maiden finally saw a gain in her non-retirement investments this month after six losing months in a row. The gain was only $A332 or 3....

My paper about my funded research project was rejected by one of the two conference organizers in Europe I submitted papers to. They accepte...

From the press release: AEP ANNOUNCES PROGRAM TO MAXIMISE SHAREHOLDER VALUE: • $60 million pro-rata return of capital proposed • Continuatio...

This guy has almost the same rationale as I did for joining LinkedIn - getting more visibility for your own website (and yourself). The sam...

I got the 16GB version of the Sandisk Cruzer USB Flash Drive in JB Hi Fi for $A75. The local Apple reseller only had one rather ugly small...

The table shows Moominmama's performance in March. The MSCI World Index gained 8.29% and the S&P 500 8.76% (total return). But Moomi...

I just got an e-mail about a new social media things called Academia.edu . The organizers state: "Academia.edu was founded by Richard P...

Finally today I got the key to my office and Snork Maiden and I moved some of my books and files in there this evening. My computer should b...

Continuing the http://moominhouse.blogspot.com/2009/03/2006-7-income-and-tax-for-act-and.html">series on income and tax in the ACT a...

Most of last week we were on a trip to Sydney together with the "Snorkparents". The picture is the view from Watson's Bay of t...

Following up on Friday's post I've calculated the per capita breakdown of different income sources for all ACT postcodes and Austra...

The annual report on Australian tax collections has just been published by the ATO. It's just crazy that "the vast majority of peop...

The final Credit Suisse/Tremont numbers are in for February with the index losing 0.88%. In a replay of the Madoff scandal , equity market ...

Snork-Maiden somehow convinced her employer to buy this book for their library :) I have mixed reactions. It's not one of these books th...

The chairman told me that I interviewed very well and he doesn't have any feedback in that regard and if I find somewhere more matching ...

I just heard that I didn't get the Senior Lectureship (Associate Prof in the U.S. system) position at the University down the street fro...

Chart at Peter Martin's blog .

Snork Maiden yesterday got a rejection e-mail for the paper she submitted to a conference in Slovenia. Having organized an international con...

I read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. While it is a good read I found it rather frustrating. I agree totally with the tone of the http://en.wiki...

New York, March 9, 2009 Early estimates indicate the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index will finish down 0.45% in February (based on 59...

I paid down $A1000 of my Australian margin loan to reduce the risk of a margin call. It's one thing I can do to reduce anxiety. Still wa...

Today I'm supposed to get my contract for the one year job and hear the outcome on the permanent job. Well, they said on both: "By ...

The HFRX (daily small sample) index lost 0.38% for February . As you know stock market indices fell sharply with the MSCI World Index down 9...

I don't feel like writing my standard monthly report this month - too depressing. The market keeps going down with the MSCI down 9.73% a...

Snork Maiden brought home borrowed copies of Ziliak and McCloskey's "Cult of Statistical Signficance" and Taleb's "T...

All the universities I've studied or worked at are on this list . There's some luck in that. I've interviewed for jobs at some t...

The interview went smoothly but I think my chances are 50:50 on getting the job. Some people seem enthusiastic about hiring me while others ...

I completed my presentation slides on Thursday and today went over to a colleague's house to run the presentation by him. I was meant to...

Moominmama's portfolio saw another loss this month of 3.66% in USD terms. The MSCI World Index was down 9.73% and the S&P 500 close ...

While the HFRX index saw a gain for January , HFRI * had a loss of -.04% . That's still great compared to the equity markets. Credit Sui...

Apparently momentum is growing to abolish Australia's system of dividend imputation . In Australia companies pass on tax credits attache...

Yesterday, I went to a meeting at the government department that is funding my research project . One person left early and the most relevan...

As is the case for non-US crude oil prices there's been a bit of a bounce in the Baltic Dry Index of shipping costs. Of course, it cou...

Some progress on the job front. A computer is being ordered for me from the project funds and a meeting being set up with the funders to d...

I just joined LinkedIn . I don't really understand how it works or whether it is useful, but figured it is yet another portal to channel...

I went along to my local TransACT office to ask about changing our broadband/phone plan into one that includes cable TV. Snork Maiden's...