Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Last Friday was a big day. I was asked to do 5 book reviews to be shown on Channel 31, community television. It was great fun working with the host Dallas Brooks and I had the opportunity to showcase 5 great new books.
In the first segment I reviewed "Endgame". Written by John Mauldin, author and editor of Thoughts from the Front Line Newsletter, it was an intriguing look at the world debt cycle. Many countries are featured in their own chapter, so I was drawn to the chapter on Australia. It made me cringe a bit. What he was writing about is happening now in Australia, high interest rates, high dollar, one speed economy driven by the resources sector, our reliance on China, and one of the few countries in the world where the real estate bubble has not burst! Frightening, particularly with Australian economists predicting that we will have 2 interest rates before Christmas. This was an interesting book particulary from the view of an American looking at the state of our economy.
The second book in the segment, was "A Sharebuyers Guide to Investing in the Australian Mining Boom" by Dr Allan Trench. For anyone thinking of investing in the resources sector here in Australia, this is a must read! Allan starts with the basics, how to invest, what to look for in research and development and gives a very readable and comprehensive look at the mining super tax. There are 28 selected commodity profiles and he finishes off with some ASX listed company profiles, which takes a lot of the hard work out of the job of analysis. Whilst many of Australia's mining companies no longer offer good value, Allan believes there are still many little gems bubbling away under the radar, you only need to research to find them.

My next blog will look at the books featured in the Channel 31 second segment, "The Barefoot Investor" by Scott Pape and Michael Yardney's new book "What Every Property Investor Needs to Know About Finance, Tax and the Law", very timely.

Just as a follow on for the Friday theme, after the filming at Channel 31, the crew from "Today Tonight", Channel 7's nightly current affair program, were at the shop filming Scott Pape for a segment on financial planning and advise. They were a great group, and some customers did recognise the shop as a backdrop.
Finally after a pretty full on day, Scott Pape interviewed me on radio 2GB/MTR, looking at some of the latest books at the shop. On a roll, I featured "Endgame" again. I guess it has had quite an impact on my view of the Australian economy, also Mining Boom and Michael Yardneys' property book. Both of these books again are pivotal to Australia's resilient economy.
If you want to read more on these great books, follow the links.
Till the next time
Janene

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