Turbulence

There were plenty of candidates but only a few could be winners of Choice's dodgy and dubious goods and services awards. The consumer group named Qantas as one of eight recipients of a Shonky award for its $7.70 credit card surcharge per passenger for domestic flights. Choice says that's way above the average 1 per cent fee that is charged by credit card companies for such transactions.

Slow down

Britain's most successful money manager says the developed world may be entering a period of low growth but that low interest rates will encourage investors to switch to shares to get decent returns. Fidelity's Anthony Bolton massively outperformed sharemarkets for 28 years before moving to a mentoring role at Fidelity. During his Australian trip he said governments had borrowed heavily and this would damp growth.

Hot property

The Australia Property Monitors September Quarterly House Price Series report shows the national housing market has continued to boom in the three months to September following a very strong June quarter, with quarterly house price growth of 3.7 per cent — the highest in six years. Strong sales of more expensive capital city properties is driving the boom, says the company's Matthew Bell.

Rewards for stayers

Investors who stay the course do better than those who try to time markets, says index manager Vanguard Investments. Vanguard studied the returns of the major asset classes from July 1, 1970, to June 30, 2009. Stepping out of the market for only a month or two usually impacted negatively on long-term returns, says Vanguard's Robin Bowerman.