Thursday, October 05, 2017

TFS Capital Closes Its Mutual Funds

I was surprised to hear that TFS Capital is closing its three mutual funds. I have about USD 14k invested in the TFS Market Neutral Fund. I think they will send me a check with the proceeds. Following Interactive Brokers transferring my account to their new Australian subsidiary, this will be another step in reducing my financial footprint in the US. I still have a couple of bank accounts and a 403b fund there. I'm not planning on closing the latter and will also try to hang onto the bank accounts.

Tuesday, October 03, 2017

September 2017 Report

It was another relatively quiet month financially. Here are our monthly accounts (in AUD):


"Current other income" was $14.7k. I got paid about $2.5k of backpay. Spending (not counting mortgage) was about the same as last month moderate at $6.8k. Rates (property tax) and the body corporate (condo) fee added more than $1k. After deducting the mortgage payment of $4.0k (which includes implicit interest saving due to our offset account - the actual mortgage payment was about $840 less than this), we saved $3.9k on the current account and added $2.1k in housing equity. Retirement contributions were $3.5k. Net saving was, therefore, $9.5k across the board.

The Australian Dollar fell slightly from USD 0.7922 to USD 0.7839. The ASX 200 lost 0.02%, the MSCI World Index gained 1.97%, and the S&P 500 2.08%. All these are total returns including dividends. We gained 0.97% in Australian Dollar terms and lost 0.09% in US Dollar terms. So, we outperformed the Australian market and underperformed international markets. The best performer in dollar terms was the various Platinum Funds, gaining $6.0k. IPE was the worst performer losing $2.0k. That was the result of a tick down of 0.5 cents in the share price to the bid rather than ask side of the spread. Hedge funds were the best performing asset class in percentage terms, gaining 3.55%. Private equity was the worst performing asset class, losing 4.11%. Commodities were also down, 1.58%. All other asset classes gained.

As a result of all this, net worth rose AUD 22k to $1.910 million (new high) or rose USD 2k to USD 1.498 million (also a new high).

Monday, October 02, 2017

Moominmama's Taxes 2016-17 Edition

I've filed Moominmama's tax return for this tax year. The tax year runs from 1st July to 30th June in Australia. The figures ignore employer and employee contributions to superannuation (retirement account) which amount to a lot of extra income. Everything is in Australian Dollars of course.


Her salary is down because she went on maternity leave and the average tax rate also falls as a result. Investment income is up though.

Here are the reports on Snork Maiden's taxes for all previous years:

2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
2012-13
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
2008-9
2007-8