Welcome to the October edition of our newsletter

It’s lovely to see some growth returning to funds and shares.  Australian shares climbed 0.5% recently to a 14-month high recently, following seven straight days of growth as investors feared missing out on further gains. Meanwhile the RBA has cut the official cash rate to 3.25%, with further cuts expected before year end as the resources boom loses steam.

The recent rate cut caught many economic forecasters by surprise. Looking at it though, the importance of moving in October rather than November has two objectives. Firstly it gives retailers an opportunity to make cuts to their products in time for the busy Christmas trading period and secondly, it breaks the predictability cycle (moving on Melbourne Cup day in November was widely anticipated).  By bringing forward this cut, they may now wait until February before cutting again.

As cash rates decrease, the case is compelling to ensure you are set for growth in other areas of your portfolio or wealth creation plans. Unfortunately investors often leave reentering the market until too late and the early recovery has passed.

We have included Chris Caton’s assessment of the world in this month’s Economic report, and we also comment on the opportunity in Asia.

Whilst we are all striving for long, affluent and healthy lives, bad things happen to good people so we have an article on financially surviving breast cancer and helping the elderly with estate planning.

On a more basic level we look at top tips for buying your first home. This is for our younger readers but also those of you who have children entering this stage in their life.

We hope you enjoy the articles and we always welcome any feedback or ideas of what you would like to see.

Wishing you a great month,