The award recognises Dixon Advisory’s commitment to client service excellence through its highly regarded educational seminars, events and conferences that are run throughout the year – including sessions tailored specifically for baby boomer women, who want to learn more about actively managing their wealth.

Chris Brown, Managing Director and CEO – Dixon Advisory Australia said, because no two retirement objectives are the same and every client has their own vision of what retirement means to them, empowering clients to make sound and personal decisions for themselves was a core belief of the firm.

“As a leader in financial strategies for retirement – education is a cornerstone of the Dixon Advisory supported SMSF and family wealth management service. We’re very proud to be recognised as a Winner for Service Excellence in the Australian Business Awards 2017, for delivering on our commitment to education and helping clients achieve security in retirement.

“Helping clients take control of their retirement savings and make informed financial decisions at every life stage, is very important to all of us,” Mr Brown said.

To help support all Australians to financial self-empowerment – no matter their level of financial literacy – the firm’s website provides analysis on local and global economies, commentary on the latest business and finance news and top tips for superannuation.

Dixon Advisory also holds free seminars on retirement, superannuation and SMSF strategies for those interested in managing their wealth more effectively.

The post Dixon Advisory wins award for service excellence appeared first on AdviserVoice.

…crunch time for the First Home Super Saver Scheme.

It’s crunch time for the First Home Super Saver Scheme as the consultation period for the draft legislation closed last Friday and federal parliament returned this week. Leading superannuation expert Dixon Advisory, is calling for bipartisan support to pass the legislation, to give certainty to first home buyers that the proposal will be available for use in 2017.

“As property prices on the east coast remain high, first home buyers continue to face immense affordability challenges. Certainty about how to access support is important, to help buyers plan out their finances for the year ahead,” Dixon Advisory’s Head of Advice Nerida Cole said.

“The proposed First Home Super Saver Scheme offers tax concessions for first home buyers, to help them get to their savings target more quickly. For an average wage earner – if they are able to maximise the $30,000 limit over a 2-year period they will have approximately $5,000 more in their pocket to help with the home deposit – compared to saving in their personal name. These extra tax concessions alone won’t be enough to fund a home deposit, but it can help shave time off how long it takes to save a deposit,” Ms Cole said.

“We were pleased to see the draft legislation addressed concerns about fairness, by clarifying that a first home buyer purchasing a home with a partner who has already owned a home, will not be excluded from using the scheme,” Ms Cole said.

The draft legislation proposes more flexibility than the earlier version of the scheme and as Super Guarantee contributions remain inside the super system for retirement, the integrity of the super system is protected. Other key features include:

• No time limit on the account.
• Individuals can start saving up to $15,000 per annum from 1 July 2017, up to an overall max $30,000.
• No need to open a separate account.
• First withdrawals accessible from 1 July 2018.

Ms Cole also noted the importance of measures to help improve housing affordability, as: “Having a good financial situation in retirement involves much more than just what your super balance is – not owning a home in retirement creates enormous financial stress and instability.”

The post It’s crunch time for First Home Super Saver legislation appeared first on AdviserVoice.

James Brown

Emerging Markets Masters Fund (EMF) has delivered an exceptional 2015 calendar year performance, ranking number one for all emerging market equity funds available to retail investors in Australia.

In a challenging year during which the MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 4.7 per cent, the Fund generated a positive net tangible asset (NTA) total return of 3.9 per cent[1], outperforming the Index by 8.6 per cent.

According to Morningstar[2] data EMF outperformed similar funds in a very strong showing. Portfolio Manager, James Brown attributes much of this outperformance to the Fund’s benchmark agnostic investment philosophy and process. This includes meaningful positions in China A-Shares and India—both major contributors to the strong performance in 2015.

“A vast majority of the managers we invest with are not available to Australian retail investors and that can be a powerful advantage for our investors. We are always willing to back our research-driven investment process, including having a strong bias towards the consumer sectors, exposure to domestic China, and a large position in India.”

He adds: “While we are pleased with the outcome of our asset allocation decisions in 2015, it is also very positive to see that manager selection also contributed meaningfully in the majority of markets that we invest in.”

EMF has further cemented its solid foundations by showcasing NTA total returns of 33.9 per cent (9.4 per cent per annum) since its launch in October 2012, compared with total returns of 20.2 per cent (5.8 per cent per annum) for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

“This is an excellent result for our investors and another outstanding 12 months for the Fund.” says Mr
Brown.

“The Fund has been positioned to leverage the growth of the emerging markets consumer since launch,
and it expressed this view through a meaningful exposure to frontier markets and significant weightings to
consumer sectors. We believe this approach has really differentiated us from most of our peers.”

He expects volatility in emerging markets to continue, particularly as a result of geopolitical concerns, but
believes there are still very exciting opportunities in these fast growing markets.

“Emerging markets continue to exhibit superior growth rates to developed economies as consumer wealth
and consumption continues to grow. Going into 2016 we expect volatility to be challenging in all markets,
however, we remain optimistic about the medium-term outlook for investing in emerging and frontier
markets and particularly for the managers whom we have invested with.”

Mr Brown adds that for investors to generate attractive returns in these markets they must look beyond the
relevant stock market indices.

“This is integral to our strategy. Two-thirds of our underlying stock positions are not included in the relevant
index, and for this reason our portfolio differs markedly from MSCI Emerging Markets Index. As a result,
our performance will differ significantly from the Index over time, and, whilst there may be volatility, I expect
our differentiated approach to generate strong returns for unitholders over the longer term.”

———–

[1] NTA Total return with distributions reinvested at DRP price
[2] Morningstar Direct SM 27 January 2016 – peer group of emerging market equity funds available to retail investors in Australia

The post Emerging Markets Masters Fund leads peers with strong 2015 performance appeared first on AdviserVoice.