Australian Shares

Investing in shares

Investing in the sharemarket provides a way of participating in the future profits and growth of Australian and international businesses. In Australia, there are more than 2,000 companies listed on the stock exchange, representing a market capitalisation of $1.69 trillion*.

Risk/return characteristics

Shares are generally considered a high-risk and high-return investment and are suitable for longer-term investors.

Historically, Australian shares have provided long-term growth well above inflation. However, shorter-term sharemarket returns have experienced higher volatility at times.

Sharemarket investors may expect a negative return approximately once in every five years or so, which is why shares are suited to longer term investors. Time greatly reduces, but does not eliminate, the volatility in returns from shares.

Sharemarkets move in cycles, reflecting the underlying strength of the economy, political factors, industry trends and market sentiment. On any given day interest rate and inflation expectations, company profits, dividends, economic growth figures and the rise or fall of our dollar may have an impact on share prices.

Income and capital growth

While shares are primarily a growth asset, they may also provide a good source of income.

Most companies distribute a proportion of their profits in the form of dividends. Companies that pay high dividends tend to be blue chip companies like those in the banking, insurance and retail sectors. Some companies, like those in the mining sector or newer industries like biotechnology, may retain dividends to fund future research, expansion or exploration.

Actual yields may change dramatically from year to year and vary from company to company. If company profits are not growing, dividends are likely to be stable and if profits fall, a company may have to reduce dividends.

Tax benefits

Dividend imputation is the main reason Australian shares are so tax effective. Given companies have already paid tax at the company tax rate, investors can use franking credits to offset the amount of tax they pay on dividends and have any excess credits refunded. The higher the franking level the greater the benefit.

Some companies pay fully franked dividends, with the maximum imputation credit of 30 per cent (equal to the company tax rate). Other companies pay partially franked dividends where the imputation credit will vary depending on the amount of tax they have paid on their profits.

Implementing your portfolio

You can invest in the sharemarket directly or through a managed fund. One of the major benefits of a managed fund is that you can access a much wider range of investments than you can investing directly yourself. Another is that your assets are professionally managed.

Index-tracking traditional index funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) invest in all or a representation of stocks in a selected index with the aim of producing index returns, before fees. By contrast, many active Australian share funds hold between 30 and 70 stocks, out of a universe of around 200 to 300 securities depending on the index used.

*Australian Securities Exchange. End-of-month valuation, July 2015.

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