Welcome to the Mclowd Community Newsletter.
“In his book, The Zero Marginal Cost Society, Jeremy Rifkin describes how the emerging Internet of Things is propelling us towards an era of nearly free goods and services. In the years ahead, it is likely that we will see this same trend push into the wealth platform space and start forcing providers to offer near free use of their platforms.”
Bravura Solutions: The Australian wealth management industry – 2020 and beyond
Introduction
Tesla recently announced that they have installed a network of free electric vehicle charging stations along the Hume Highway.
As of October 2015 it is now possible to drive from Sydney to Melbourne – for free.
There is a very simple reason as to why the price of that 800km trip has fallen to zero:
THE MARGINAL COST OF THE ENERGY REQUIRED FOR THAT JOURNEY IS ZERO
(The fact that incumbents in the asset management industry have started quoting Rifkin is an illustration of the growing realisation of our journey towards a Zero Marginal Cost Society).
Accounting Platform Update
Mclowd continues to focus its efforts on capturing and responding to the user feedback that has been flowing in over recent months.
As flagged in the September Newsletter we have also added new help videos in relation to the handling of corporate actions, as well as numerous posts to the FAQ page.
BMR Integration
Over the next few days we will complete integration with BMR Corporate Solutions, an online supplier of legal documents specialising in SMSFs.
In addition to managing unlimited client accounts for free, practitioners will be able to set up a new SMSF within minutes, all from within their Mclowd dashboard.
Commenting on the partnership Mark Ratcliff from BMR said:
“The Mclowd Community is all about driving down the cost of superannuation administration. We look forward to improving the experience of SMSF practitioners through our efficient workflows and processes and are very pleased to be working with Mclowd.”
SMSF Check
Mclowd has also partnered with SMSF Check to provide trustees and practitioners with an online review of a Fund’s investment strategy.
This new service covers the following elements:
- Retirement income calculator
- Investment objectives
- Risk profile
- Asset allocation
- Insurance and estate planning
(Just click on ‘Investment strategy’ under Settings and follow the prompts).
Postscript
Capital markets constantly seek to estimate the present value of future cashflows.
In this way (as we are now seeing in relation to carbon risk), stocks and bonds act as a transmission mechanism, bringing forward (expected) outcomes and reflecting them in today’s dollars.
Given the quantum of deflation involved, the future can be represented by one of only two possible scenarios:
- Rifkin’s analysis is wrong – and current asset values (including real property) represent the best estimate of the future cashflows associated with those assets, or
- Rifkin’s analysis is right – in which case asset values and incomes will eventually decline in direct proportion to our journey towards a Zero Marginal Cost Society
Regards,
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd