Corrective Lens and … October 2023 – End of Month Update

From Zeiss.com

Last week, the ASX 200 has moved into correction territory to its lowest point since October 2022. Both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Index are already in technical corrections. The FTSE 100 is faring marginally better, down around 9% from its recent peak in February 2023.

In the world of stock markets, a 10% decline from a previous peak is known as a “Correction”. Never a nice time … but Slack Investor recommends that you just put on the big pants and get used to these things. Corrections are just part of the landscape of investing in shares and Slack Investor has often written about them – and the need to roll with them – if you are using stock markets to better your financial position.

On average, the (US) market declined 10% or more every 1.2 years since 1980, so you could even say corrections are common.

For the S&P500 – Covenant Wealth Advisors

In the Australian market, falls of 10% occur (on average) every two years – and can occur even more frequently.

If you can avoid it? – Don’t Sell

Throughout my investing career, I have been a net buyer of stocks. Selling only to raise some cash, or to shift out of one stock into a (hopefully) better performing one. Things are much the same in retirement – Though I seem to be trading less.

I have structured my portfolio into a stable income pile and the more adventurous investment pile. My living expenses are easily covered from the dividends from the investments pile and income from the stable pile. So I never have to sell shares when their value is discounted during a correction (>10% fall) or a crash (>20% fall).

This way I can reap the benefits of long term growth in the sharemarket. The data from 97 years of following the S&P 500 Index with a balanced (60% shares:40% bonds/cash) portfolio shows that, over a 5-yr period, the portfolio will outperform inflation 84% of times by an average annual amount of 5.48%. Holding the portfolio for 15 years, it has been ahead of inflation by 5.33% on 97% of occasions. Slack Investor would take those odds.

Balanced Portfolio – Long-term returns over inflation (US) – From Bob French – Firstlinks

Not for the faint hearted, but you can (historically) get an increase to returns by taking on more risk with a 100% shares portfolio. When calculated over a 15-yr period, The S&P 500 has been ahead of inflation by 7.08% (average p.a.) on 95% of occasions.

S&P 500 Long-term returns over inflation – From Bob French – Firstlinks

In light of the above two tables, Slack Investor shows indifference to these corrections … be patient – you will be rewarded.

October 2023 – End of Month Update

Slack Investor remains IN for the US Index S&P 500 and the FTSE 100. But is on SELL Alert for the Australian index shares – as the end of month stock price (6780) is below its monthly stop loss of 6917.

Slack investor is on SELL Alert for the ASX200 at October 31, 2023 due to a stop loss breach. I have a “soft sell” approach when I gauge that the market is not too overvalued. I will not sell against the overall trend – but monitor my index funds on a weekly basis.

Another negative month for Slack Investor followed markets (S&P 500 -2.2 %, and the FTSE 100 -3.8%, and the Australian stock market did the same (ASX 200 -3.8%).

All Index pages and charts have been updated to reflect the monthly changes – (ASX IndexUK IndexUS Index).

Alphabet … Google It

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet looks ready to play the “evil genius”.

At around 15% of my investments, Alphabet (US:GOOGL) is a major holding in my portfolio. It is my biggest international holding. I first dipped into the stock back in 2019 and have been trying to top up (in small amounts) each year since.

From pcriver.com

Since Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched Google in 2004 with a killer search engine, the many tentacles of Google/Alphabet have spread into the everyday life of billions. Youtube alone had 2.6 bn annual users in 2022.

(Google’s search and advertising) is Alphabet’s best business, accounting for 80% of Google’s total revenue in 2022 including Google Search and other properties like Google Network ads and YouTube. The remaining 20% comes from Google Cloud (9.4%) and its apps, hardware and content businesses (10.4%).

From Intelligent Investor

Why keep investing in Alphabet?

Before any investment decision, Slack Investor will do a bit of research. Market Screener has a Financial page on each stock.

From Market Screener

When the income chart looks like the above showing a track record of growth (prior to 2023) – and projected further growth up to 2025 – I’m interested. A look now at Slack Investors favourite finance indicators. A projected Return on Assets (ROE) of 24.5 in 2025 (well above 15%), a 2025 predicted PE ratio of 17.5 (very low for a growth stock), and plenty of cash on hand for further aquisitions – it all looks good.

Nitpicking

Despite admiring the skill of Alphabet management in aquisition and company growth, Slack Investor is not enamoured with everything this company does. There are some things that I find annoying. Back in 2017, they sudddenly dropped their popular Google Finance Portfolio feature. Slack Investor then migrated to Yahoo Finance to keep track of his portfolio. I note that Google Finance has recently reinstated its porfolio feature – but I have already moved.

To keep growing revenue, many of their channels are being further monetized. I love using Youtube for music, entertainment, and the millions of helpful “how to” guides. However, the ads at the start of the clips are tedious. This is an attempt to get people into Youtube (no ad) Premium at $13.99 per month.

I also had a recent battle to reduce the amount of data in my google account (Photos, Google Drive, gmail) to below the 15 Gb free limit. This is deliberatly not a simple process and seems to be designed to push people into more storage through a subscription starting at $2.49 per month.

These are relatively small quibbles though – and Slack Investor really doesn’t expect “something for nothing”. I continue to hold and a happy buyer of this company using an international e-broking account with CMC Markets – Alphabet, I hope, will be a very long-term holding.

Buying Shares the Slack Way

Buying Fish (1669)Adriaen van Ostade

The last time Slack Investor wrote about how he buys shares was two years ago, and The Slack Buying Process is worth a read for the detail. I must admit that not much has changed in the method that I use. Two of the shares that I bought back then Alphabet (US:GOOGL) and Betashares NASDAQ 100 (ASX:NDQ) have done OK in that time period, but Coles (ASX:COL) has lagged a bit, but because of dividends, is not on the losing pile yet.

Buying Price
AUG 2021 (AUD)
Current Price
SEP 2023 (AUD)
US:GOOGL$195.45$214.53
ASX:NDQ$34.09$36.28
ASX:COL$17.94$15.85

Regardless of these preliminary two-year results, nothing fundamentally has changed for these companies and will stick things out for at least a 5-yr period – and then judge performance.

Since retiring, not much buying and selling goes on in my stable pile. For the investing pile, as I am now mostly a fully-invested “Buy and Hold” type of bloke, I don’t get to buy very often. The only opportunities come when I sell something, or my dividends build up beyond my living expenses.

The first thing to do is get a list of companies that you might be interested in. Slack Investor is an avid reader of the financial press. I get heaps of buying ideas from investment sites such as the AFR,  LivewireMorningstar, ShareCafe, InvestSmart, Motley Fool, etc. I pay particular attention when any articles I read mention “growth”.

Unlike when I am buying fish, for buying shares, I really want to look at the “guts” of a company. For this purpose, my best friend is the excellent Market Screener site. I type in the company name and then look at the Financials Tab. This gives me an overview of what the company has done and what analysts project that a company will do. There are lots of things to look at when evaluating a company – Management team, past performance, level of debt, projected sales, etc. However, if I could boil down a company to its essence with just two financial measures, it would be these two discussed below.

Return on Equity (ROE)

The ROE is usually expressed as a percentage and is the Companies

ROE = Stated Net Income/ Shareholder Equity.

For an instant way to look at whether a company is profitable, they will report a positive ROE. It is an indicator of how well the company uses shareholder funds. If I was getting a 5% return on my money in the bank, my ROE for that investment would be 5%. Obviously a high ROE is good. Slack investor likes his investments to have an ROE of at least 15%.

Sadly, the ROE can sometimes be manipulated by the management team by using a number of tricks. They might use accounting loopholes to distort earnings, or hiding assets off the balance sheet – both of these tricks will inflate the ROE.

As the denominator of the ROE equation is just shareholder equity, it ignores the effect of borrowings. Companies can boost their ROE by taking on large loans (risk). Also, a company with a large cash reserve (desirable for potential take-overs and share buy backs) will be penalised in the ROE calculation.

By screening out companies with large debt and including only companies with a track record of good management,- you can try to mitigate these risks in ROE calculation. Slack Investor is always looking forward, and he likes to use the Projected ROE of Future Income/Shareholder Equity.

Price/Earnings Ratio (PE)

The PE Ratio is defined as a companies share price to its earnings per share.

PE Ratio = Current Share Price/ Current Earnings per Share.

Slack Investor is usually looking at “growth” companies with a relatively high PE Ratio. A high PE ratio could either mean that a company’s stock is overvalued, or that there is an expectation that there might be high growth rates in the future.

By itself, the PE Ratio can be misleading. Sometimes, the earnings of a company can be manipulated through accounting measures and, there is a flaw in this ratio as it does not account for the assets and liabilities of a company.

A PE ratio is best used when compared against similar companies in the same industry or, for a single company across a period of time. Slack Investor usually gets the jitters when the projected PE Ratio is over the 40-50 mark.

Putting it all together

PE 2026ROE % 2026
ASX2014
CPU1633
TNE3834
XRO6220
SEK2511
COH3823
RMD1822

I put all my possible “growth” stock buying options into a table and used Market screener Financials to get the projected (future) values for PE Ratio and ROE for 2026. I rejected XRO as it was too expensive (PE Ratio greater than 40) and ASX and SEK for low ROE ( <15%). TNE is a great company with good ROE and no debt, but slightly expensive (ROE 38). COH was also slightly expensive (ROE 38).

This left me with CPU (Computershare) and RMD (Resmed). Both good companies with good prospects. Lets have a look at the charts.

Resmed (RMD) 5-yr Chart – Yahoo
Computershare (CPU) 5-yr chart – Yahoo

For now, Resmed (RMD) seems to be on a downward trend – and Computershare (CPU) on the up. The trend is your friend. This is not advice, but I bought some Computershare on the basis of the above analysis – slightly worried about the debt levels of CPU (which would tend to inflate the ROE), but I bought a small amount and will give this investment 5 years – then re-evaluate.

Vanguard 2023 Annual Long term Investing chart  and … August 2023 – End of Month Update

Whether it has been a good investing year – or a bad one, August is the time when the Vanguard long-term (30 yr) investing chart lands. It is a timely reminder that whatever is happening in the short term, investing for the long term (> 5-10 yr) in International and Australian shares will compound your wealth. Anyone with a steady income that exceeds their living expenses can do this – so, what a young Slack Investor would do, is Automate his investments, through platforms such as StockspotPearlerVanguard Personal, or Raiz) … and “Get Cracking!”

Extract from the 2023 Vanguard Index chart (Just the 2007-2023 portion) – the dollar values on the right are the results of investing $10000 in index funds in each asset class for 30 years (since July 1993) – Check out the full glory of the Vanguard 2023 chart in PDF format – Click image for better resolution.

The lessons of long term investing

Every year Vanguard publish their performance data on each asset class. Slack Investor looks forward to this – as it demonstrates the powerful compounding that happens when the appreciating asset classes of Shares and Property are held for a long time (30 years). Although this Vanguard collection of data shows the volatility of asset values in the short term – it also also emphasizes the joys of holding and accumulating shares or property for long periods of time. These asset classes have steadily increased in value over the last 30 years. $10000 invested in Australian Shares in 1993 would have compounded to $138 778 in 2023, US Shares would have compounded to $176 155. Staying in Cash would have yielded $34 737.

Slack Investor says download and study this chart … and work towards getting a mix of some appreciating assets … accumulate, then hang on!

Financial year total returns (%) for the major asset classes

In the Vanguard 2023 table below, for each asset class the total annual returns are given and the best performing class for each year is shaded in blue/green … and the worst in pink. What stands out to Slack Investor is that is rare for and asset class to lead in annual returns (blue/green) for two years in a row – and there are years where the leading asset class (blue/green) becomes the worst performer (pink) in the next year. This drives home the need to spread your investments over different asset classes (diversification) and stay the course – 30 years of data talks loudly to Slack Investor.

Total returns for each asset class for the 30 years since 1993 – Check out the full glory of the Vanguard 2023 Brochure in PDF format– Click table image for better resolution.

This table highlights the benefits of diversification across asset classes for the long-term investor. Each asset class might be the best performing (Blue/Green shading), or the worst performing (Pink shading) for the year – and might dominate (or languish) for up to two years in a row. However, often a worst performing asset will show up as the best performing asset in the very next year – or vice versa.

Slack Investor is accepting of the occasional negative returns on a yearly basis for the appreciating asset classes- and concentrates on the 30-yr average long-term annual returns for holding shares and property of over 9% p.a.

When averaged over 30 years, the asset class and annual returns are : For AUST. SHARES 10.0%; INT’L SHARES 8.7%; U.S. SHARES 11.6%; AUST. LISTED PROPERTY 9.0%; and INT’L LISTED PROPERTY 9.7%; This compares with the average cash return of 4.3% p.a.

Slack Investor knows where he wants to be … over the long term, it isn’t cash.

August 2023 – End of Month Update

Slack Investor remains IN for Australian index shares, the US Index S&P 500 and the FTSE 100.

All Slack Investor overseas followed markets had a negative month (S&P 500 -1.8 %, and the FTSE 100 -3.4% and the Australian stock market did the same (ASX 200 -1.4%).

All Index pages and charts have been updated to reflect the monthly changes – (ASX IndexUK IndexUS Index).

Advice for a young man … and June 2023 – End of Month Update

Getty Images

I was recently delighted when my 14-yr old nephew asked me what I thought he should invest in with his earnings from his part-time jobs.

Firstly, it is a compliment to an old bloke to be asked anything, and secondly, it is testament to the financial maturity of this fine young man that he would be thinking about the world of the share market while still at school.

If he was older and in a steady full-time job I would advise he automate his savings as much as possible and lash into index funds via a platform such as StockspotPearler, Vanguard Personal, or Raiz)

His first investment would be in the order of a few thousand hard-earned dollars from part-time jobs. It is vital that the investment has good prospects and unlikely to lose money over a 5-yr period (no guarantees though!). Given that he would not feel the need to access the money for 5 years (hopefully longer!)

For a first investment, I would add the criteria that it should be a well-known Australian company that might appear in the news occasionally and remind him that he is a part-owner … and an investor!

If he was already 18, it would be “off to the races” and we would immediately set up a broker account in his own name and he would begin to experience the magic of being a shareholder. Being under 18 complicates things a little as minors are not allowed to directly own shares- we need to enlist his parent’s help.

If the parent already has a broker account the best way to start is for the parent to buy the shares on his behalf. When he turns 18, my nephew can start his own account with a broker (e.g. Self Wealth, Commsec, Pearler) and the parent can use an off-market transfer (get the form from the broker) to get the shares into my nephew’s hands as a “gift” including any dividends earned. During this brief holding period, any dividends and any capital gain will count as taxable income in the parents name – but this is a small price to pay to tap my nephew’s enthusiasm.

Alternatively, you could open a broker account in their name (as the trustee for “Nephews name”). The process is a little more complicated and is explained in detail by SelfWealth.

The Nuts and Bolts of Stock Selection

Naturally, I would address this problem in a methodical way and set up a list of Slack owned companies – I couldn’t recommend a company that I didn’t own myself. Some of my favourite stock metrics are gathered from the excellent Market Screener site on the financials page for each stock.

My number one metric for looking at companies is their Return on Equity (ROE), estimated for the year 2024 – Slack Investor is looking forward. This gives me an idea about whether a company is making an investment dollar grow. Higher the better, I start getting curious about a company when ROE is above 15%.

The projected Price Earnings ratio in 2024 is next – I don’t like the P/E Ratio to get above 40, as this indicates the current price of the company is 40 times its earnings (expensive) – but some exceptions are made if the company is growing fast (High ROE). The yield (dividend) is not that important to a young investor, it is the total growth that counts.

StockSymbol2024 ROE2024 P/E2024 YieldPrice 30/06/23% Price below consensus
CSL LtdCSL18%301.5%$277.38-18%
WesfarmersWES30%223.9%$49.34Fair Value
ColesCOL31%223.9%$18.42Fair Value
AltiumALU32%411.9%$36.92-6%
Macquarie BankMQG13%144.2%$177.62-10%
Car SalesCAR10%282.8%$23.82-3%
RealEstate.comREA29%411.3%$143.03-7%
Analysis of some Slack Investor owned stocks using the projected Return on Equity (2024 ROE); price earnings ratio in 2024 (2024 P/E); 2024 Yield; and the current price (30 June 2023); and current discount from the average analyst perceived value – marketscreener.com – Financials Tab

Looking at the figures, even though the stock price of CSL hasn’t really gone anywhere in the last 3 years, it would be my first pick as it is currently 18% below its fair value price (by a consensus of analysts). It is such a strong Australian company that really thinks of the future by continuing to increase its spend on research and development each year.

Wesfarmers (Bunnings, K-Mart, Officeworks, etc) and Coles look OK too because of their high Return on Equity (ROE) – they also have the benefit that you can continually pop in to see how your business is going. Altium has languished in price this last few years but remains a great company for the future – if my nephew was interested in the “tech” space.

This isn’t advice, Unless, of course, you are my nephew!

June 2023 – End of Month Update

The financial year closes and looking at the 12-month charts for FY 2023 – Slack Investor concludes … “It was better than last year”!

Slack Investor remains IN far all followed markets. The ASX 200 (+1.6%) and FTSE 100 (+1.1%) drifted slightly upward for the month. It is boom-time in the US with the S&P 500 rising 6.5%. The US index had moved more than 15% above its stop loss, so I have moved the stop loss upward to 4048.

All Index pages and charts  have been updated to reflect the monthly changes – (ASX IndexUK IndexUS Index). The quarterly updates to the Slack Portfolio have also been completed.

The Long View

“Astronomie”, Georg Leopold Hertel and François Boucher, 1750 – 1778 – Rijksmuseum, Netherlands

What exactly these angelic cherubs are up to in this etching will remain a mystery to Slack Investor, but he would say that looking at things from a distance is a worthwhile trait in the stock market world. Slack Investor is currently in Europe on holiday and the geographical distance and time zone shift have helped him take more of a holiday from the markets … and just let them get on with it – without interference!

Take the long view

There are some scary headlines and plenty of volatility on the stock markets with worries about inflation and international bank collapses. Slack Investor will just pass on some sage advice. Here is the secret to being a good investor …

Don’t get caught up in what happens in three months, six months, or 12 months. It’s about the next five to seven years.

Paul Taylor, head of investments for Fidelity Australia and Portfolio Manager for the Fidelity Australian Equities Fund

Paul Taylor is no mug … his Australian Equities Fund is of the managed fund variety and, despite a slug of 0.85% p.a. in management fees, his fund has kept pace or slightly bettered the performance of the ASX 200 Accumulation index over the 5 and 10-yr periods. Even though the managers of the fund appear to know what they are doing, the difficulty of beating index funds over every time period is shown by the negative relative performance over 1 and 7-yrs.

Fidelity Australian Equities Fund performance compared to the ASX 200 Accumulation index – up to the end of February 2023.

Now, Slack Investor completely agrees with Mr Taylor, when investing in equities (shares), you should be locking them up for at least 5 years so that any volatility will be swamped by the beautiful long-term march of increasing value for Australian and International Shares. See the latest Vanguard Long Term Chart to see what I mean.

Slack Investor is still “pretend hurting” from his own last year’s (FY22) annual Slack performance (-14.3%). However, he realises his 5-yr and 10-yr performance is the critical measure for his Slack Fund. As these returns p.a. (13.5% (5-yr) and 15.2% (10-yr), are comfortably above benchmarks, I have reconciled the poor one year figures as just part of the volatility of owning mostly growth shares.

Contribute regularly to your savings

Whether adding to your super, or investment savings, the best way to do this is to add regularly, without even thinking about it. Set up an automatic personal deduction from your salary to your super – or automatically contribute to your savings through a vehicle that is in sync with your risk tolerances (e.g. StockspotPearler).

As my super was accumulating, it was mostly in broad-based index funds (Australian and International). My other investments were mostly in individual companies.

While it’s possible to beat index funds, it’s not easy to do over the long run … and as it isn’t worthwhile for most of us to try.

Paul Samuelson, American Nobel prize winner in economics – from johncbogle.com

Slack Investor has some exposure to index-type ETF’s but continues to dabble in individual companies. Despite the above warning, Slack Investor will continue to “have a crack” at stock selection and portfolio management – but only while his long-term performance still stands up.

Keep On Course … and September 2022 – End of Month Update

Randall Reeves encounters a storm in the Indian Ocean in 2017 – Is this what the current stock market turmoil feels like?

Slack Investor loves finding out about remarkable achievements. He came across the inspiring story of Randall Reeves who set himself the task of doing a solo “figure of 8” circumnavigation around the Americas and the Antarctic. This 64 400 km trip encompassed both polar regions and was achieved solo, in the 14m boat “Moli”, in 384 days.

… he (Randall) hit a severe storm in the Indian Ocean. Waves were breaking 200’ (61m) to 300’ (91m) in each direction, and his boat got knocked down so intensely his mast was fully submerged, breaking a window in the pilot house and flooding his electronics.

Extract from The Figure 8 Voyage – Randall Reeves
Randall Reeves during his adventure, after his circuit of the Antarctic and back to Cape Horn for the second time!.

I mention Randall Reeves achievements as he set himself a difficult challenge, that no one had achieved before, and succeeded on his second attempt. All we investors have to do, is pick a course to financial independence – and just keep going. Our boat might suffer a few perils along the way …. but we trust that it is a sound vessel – and it will get us home.

Bear Markets

The 9 MSCI “All Country” World Index Bear markets in the 42 years since 1980 and January 2022 With an overlay in grey of the actual MSCI AC Index. – Vanguard

Downturns aren’t rare events: Typical investors, in all markets, will endure many of them during their lifetime.

Vanguard, 2022

Slack Investor can speak with some experience here, as I have been an investor through all of the above bear markets … and they are never any fun! But, I have learned that … they all pass – and the stock market recovers, and always reaches new highs. The sometimes frustration of just “holding on” to your shares in a falling market must be weighed against the stresses of trying to time the market.

Keep on Course

Slack Investor has had mixed success in his timing the market experiment. The experiment is limited to index funds (Less than 3% of my Portfolio) and will run for another 2 years to make it a 20-year trial.

At the end of September 2022, my Index Timing strategy has outperformed the Australian Index (+1.4% p.a.) and the UK Index(+1.9% p.a.), but underperformed the US Index (-0.3% p.a.). My current feeling is that when considering that “time out of the market” means a loss of dividends, it is not worth the stress and effort and I will probably abandon the experiment in 2024 – after a 20-yr trial. The bulk (97%) of my Investments portfolio is run with the strategy of trying to buy good companies that are growing, tinkering a little, but generally just holding on!

The world MCSI AC Index is dominated by US companies (61.3%). The current 2022 World MCSI ACWI bear market is not shown in the above chart. Also, there is some argument whether the 2020 “Covid Crash” qualifies under the generally accepted definition of a Bear Market – a decline of 20%, or over, that lasts at least 2 months.

We humans naturally feel the need to do something when we see our investments fall in value. Slack Investor does not know if the worst is over, probably not! Slack Investor does know that, if you can avoid it, it is generally not a good idea to get rid of your risk-exposed assets during times of downturns – you are selling your assets cheaply in these times.

Vanguard have (below) kindly extracted the Bull markets (shaded in green) from the Bear markets (shaded in brown) for the MSCI All Country World Index since 1980 prior to January 2022. The Bull’s prevail and these pesky Bear markets will eventually pass – This chart is reassuring.

The Bull (shaded in green) and the Bear markets (shaded in brown) for the MSCI AC World Index since 1980. The gains/losses are expressed in percentage terms. – Vanguard

The World Index (MSCI AC), the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq are now in a bear market, and the S&P 500 has closed at a new 2022 low. 

We might not be on a solo circumnavigation through dangerous waters … but the lesson here is to prevail. Tighten the belt if you have to, you have a plan! Endure the situation and try to distract yourself from the stock market with life’s enjoyable things.

The stock markets will do what they always have done, oscillate between over-priced to under-priced. The long-term gains provided by holding shares are well established. If you are still working, your regular saving and investing will be buying lots of shares through dollar-cost-averaging.

If you are retired, in these tough times, you have your stable income pile to help with your living expenses. There will be better times.

September 2022 – End of Month Update

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is trend-1445464__180.jpg

Despite the above discussion, my small scale market timing experiment continues. Slack Investor is on SELL ALERT for Australian index shares (ASX 200), the US Index (S&P 500) and the UK Index (FTSE 100).

 I have a “soft sell” approach when I gauge that the market is not too overvalued. I will not sell against the overall trend but monitor my index funds on a weekly basis once the monthly stop loss has been triggered.

All my followed Index funds have fallen below their stop loss values. Big monthly falls for the ASX 200 (-7.3%), S&P 500 (-9.4%), and the FTSE 100 (-4.1)%. Time for some distraction from the market carnage. There will be better times.

All Index pages and charts  have been updated to reflect the monthly changes – ASX IndexUK IndexUS Index. The quarterly updates to the Slack Portfolio have also been recalculated.