Money Australia – July 2017

IN BRIEF

INVESTING

In the bitcoin

bubble

Scott Phillips, director of

research, Motley Fool

B

itcoin is – again

• the word on
  everyone’s lips.
  After hitting record prices in 2013,
  things went quiet. But you can’t
  keep a good speculative bubble
  down – until it pops, that is.
  Bitcoin promises the best of two
  different worlds: anonymity but also
  complete security. Its underpinnings
  are a bit of techno-jargon called
  blockchain. In short, the “ledger” of
  who owns what doesn’t sit at a
  central bank – or any bank at all.
  Instead, the records are kept
  simultaneously across many
  computers that all check in with
  each other. And the owners are

known only by a string of

unique text; the system

doesn’t keep a record of

who is who.

Buying and selling bitcoin is simple

enough: you find a marketplace

(online, naturally) and swap your

dollars for bitcoin. Just don’t lose

your code or your computer.

Otherwise, you could be seriously

out of pocket.

And then? Well, that’s the thing.

The value of bitcoin, like any other

asset, is determined by what

someone else will pay for it (which

at the time of writing was $

for one). And that’s been a

rollercoaster ride thus far.

So all you have to do is work out

how to value it... which is pretty

much impossible. It pays no interest

or dividends; it makes no profits. So

there’s no way of knowing how

much someone will pay you for it

12 months or 12 years from now.

Maybe bitcoin will age like a

Picasso or a bottle of Grange. Or it’ll

go the way of Beanie Babies and that

collection of hubcaps in the shed that

you’re sure will be worth something

some day. The problem is there’s no

way of handicapping the odds: and

that’s a poor way to invest.

XMORE

INVESTING

STORIES ON

P70-

COMPILED BY STEPH NASH

M

ost people under 75 are now able to claim a

tax deduction for after-tax contributions to

super. The condition that less than 10% of your

income must come from salary and wages was

scrapped from July 1. If you’re aged between 65

and 74, though, you will need

to meet the work test.

What you claim will count towards your

concessional cap of $25,000 – not the non-

concessional cap, which is much higher.

If you want to claim a tax deduction for

personal contributions, you must lodge a notice of

intent with your super fund and have this notice

acknowledged (in writing) by your fund. You can

find the relevant form on the tax office website

ato.gov.au.

If you claim a deduction for your personal

contributions you ma eligible for the

-contribution.

er “Change to

onal super

ntributions

eductions” in the

earch bar of the

TO website for more

MARIA BEKIARIS

Deduction for

super contributions

CRYPTOCURRENCY

Best-performing

ETFs 2016-

ASX CODE ETF NAME 1-YEAR TOTAL

RETURN

GEAR BetaShares Geared Australian Equity Fund (Hedge Fund) 43%

OZR SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Resource Fund 40%

GGUS BetaShares Geared US Equity Fund Currency Hedged (Hedge Fund) 40%

QRE BetaShares S&P/ASX 200 Resources Sector 40%

MVR VanEck Vectors Australian Resources 34%

Worst-performing

ETFs 2016-

ASX CODE ETF NAME 1-YEAR TOTAL RETURN

BBOZ BetaShares Australian Strong Bear (Hedge Fund) -37%

BBUS BetaShares US Equities Strong Bear Currency Hedged (Hedge Fund) -35%

BEAR BetaShares Australian Equities Bear (Hedge Fund) -18%

POU BetaShares British Pound -13%

ZCNH ANZ/ETFS Physical Renminbi -11%

SOURCE: STOCKSPOT ETF MARKET SUMMARY

y

government’s co

Ente

pers

co

de

se

AT

info.

TOP 3 AUSTRALIAN

SHARE FUNDS,

BY 5-YEAR

PERFORMANCE

Bennelong

Concentrated

Australian Eq

(BFL0002AU),

20.04%pa 5-year

return; Macquarie

High Conviction

(MAQ0443AU),

17.31%pa 5-year

return; Perpetual

Wholesale Ethical SRI

(PER0116AU) 16.32%pa

5-year return.

Source: Morningstar as

at 31-May-