As politicians on their cosy defined benefits retirement structure now dictate to the rest of us what superannuation benefits we receive, we are now at the political mercy of people with only their interests at heart.

The purpose of superannuation in Australia is fairly simple, our employer pays 9.5% of our gross income into a retirement account to provide future income for our retirement. This system was based on foregoing current pay rises for future benefits. What we need to remember is, this amount was based on 40 hours per week and not the 60 to 80 hours I was previously working. Financially I would have been better off receiving immediate pay rises over the period and investing the funds myself.

There needs to be tax incentives for people to save future income for an event a long way into the future. The plan was to make the investment attractive so more people would top up their accounts and remove the social security burden from future generations. Instead, there are now caps and so many provisions, many are unsure of what to do. Superannuation only benefits those who will retire at age 60, if you have too many assets then you do not qualify for the government pension regardless of how much tax you paid in your working life.

Likewise, a person who has paid no net tax their whole working life is able to draw a government pension at age 67 regardless. So a reasonable person would conclude that there is no incentive to save for retirement, instead enjoying that money throughout their working life and drawing a government pension on retirement.

The other strategy is saving for retirement and retiring at age 60, they draw their self-funded retirement accounts down for the first 7 to ten years and draw either a full or partial pension from the government. There are other issues too, a pensioner enjoys financial rebates and cost of living allowances that a self-funded retiree doesn’t. So, if you are self-funded, retire early and enjoy the early years of retirement drawing down your account while you are fit and active enough to enjoy fully.

Rolex is a very marketable brand, what they have done is nothing short of amazing from both a consumer perception and perceived value perspective. When the rest of the Swiss watch industry was in rapid decline, Rolex reinvented itself as a luxury brand and they have been on an upward trajectory since then. 

What Rolex is known for is being conservative and traditional, they are not a risk taking business. This is somewhat at odds with the strategic decision to reposition the brand during the upheaval brought about by the quartz disruption. The Air King was discontinued by Rolex in 2014, released in 1945 to honour the RAF pilots of the Battle of Britain. 

So people were surprised when the redesigned dial of the Air King 116900 was released. The Air King was originally released for pilots but had apparently strayed from that design. Rolex became involved in the Bloodhound SSC project, the dial of the 116900 matches the instrument face of the instruments. 

I like the dial, it is totally different from the 14000 references or the older 5500 references, this is the time Rolex became less conservative and actually became a little innovative. Moving from 34 mm to 39 mm was more to my style, the 34 mm is just too small and is now a woman’s size. So, at 39 mm most of us will be able to wear this watch, smaller  6″ wrists can wear this as a full size watch, and those of us with larger 7″ and 8″ writs can still wear this without being too small.    

Some of my worst investment decisions have been instigated by a stockbroker. I have myself to blame, never listen to a stockbroker, it is a pretty easy rule to follow. I neglected my own rules and paid a very expensive price. I ask myself why, I know not to listen to a stockbroker – so why do I?

So, where does this leave me? I have had so many missed opportunities, if stockbrokers know the market so well, then their advice will be invaluable – it is not. If they knew so much about market direction, they would all be multi-millionaires and bestow their extraordinary knowledge of financial markets. 

I listen to guys like Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger, they have consistently engaged in wealth creation and have a loyal following. I am not an investor in Berkshire Hathaway and it is too expensive to buy into now, of course it would have been a great investment at the right time. The Buffett and Munger partnership is legendary, their long-term wealth creation following value investing principles has resulted in a seriously successful business model

So I missed an amazing buy in time during the covid price plunge, I was following the market and asking my broker if it was the time to buy. I had my share purchases I shared with him, he thought they were good but kept telling me to hold off. When the market started moving up I kept asking, he maintained it was a dead cat bounce – it wasn’t. 

So now I have an online brokerage account, I see myself as a loyal customer. However, I have to eventually draw the line, loyalty is a two way deal and I have been neglected as a client. So ironically I have been forced to make a decision and opened an online account. The loyalty I offered wasn’t reciprocated and now I have taken my business elsewhere. 

The TAG Heuer 6000 series from the 1990s era was supposed to be a premium offering from a then struggling TAG Heuer. As far as the premium offering, I really didn’t think so, the style of the 6000 series was not really to my tastes.

As the range progressed, the 4000 series was added with the S/el the premium timepiece until surpassed by the 6000 series. The six feature philosophy of TAG Heuer meant the range was similar in design and styling, this was a problem. The TAG Heuer of the 1990s lacked a diverse style as a point of difference between ranges.

The S/el, 1500 series, Formula 1 and 4000 series allowed the TAG Heuer finances to somewhat stabalise after a very tumultuous 1980s. The 6000 series was manufactured with precious metals including 18k yellow gold, white gold, and platinum for a premium product. I am not a fan of the bracelet, I really don’t much like the link design but what I do find interesting is the TAG Heuer name at the lower lug area. 

Jorg Hysek was contracted to design the 6000 series, a couple of years later he was contacted again to design the Kirium. Whilst I am not a fan of the bezel, I have seen this design replicated in other timepieces so I appreciate this is a popular design. The Mercedes hour hand is retained, the minute hand is baton with a lollypop second hand. The dial has applied index markers and the chapter ring has printed minute markers. 

During this time, TAG Heuer was designing their timepieces utilising the six features of water resistant to 200 metres, screw-in crown, double safety clasp, unidirectional bezel, sapphire crystal and luminous markers. The six features were to differentiate TAG Heuer as a sports watch manufacturer, whilst this made all TAG Heuer watches somewhat similar, it did achieve its goals in a difficult period for not only TAG Heuer but all Swiss watch manufacturers.

The Tissot PRS516 is a pretty interesting timepiece, whilst the PRS516 comes in a number of configurations, the automatic chronograph is what interested me, for a chronograph, the dial is relatively clutter free and reasonably clean.

I had an interest in this timepiece, then all of a sudden, I lost interest. Not because I didn’t like or want this watch, it was because I just have too many watches. I was just never going to wear this watch, I didn’t need a chronograph for a daily wear. So, where did leave me? I do like a chronograph, I have a number of chronographs in my collection so that was an issue and I couldn’t justify the purchase. This was just going to sit in the safe and that would be a wasted opportunity.

Powered by the Valjoux 7753, this movement is pretty much the workhorse chronograph movement relabeled as the Tissot A05.H31 movement. I must say, I really like a mechanical chronograph and this movement has 60 hours power reserve. Tissot are producing some pretty decent timepieces at the moment, whilst you cannot expect a hand-finished timepiece in this price range, this is a solid watch with a respected movement. I like the two sub-dial version, it is well balanced with the large date window that looks symmetrical.

Unfortunately, in the government sector cronyism trumps competence every time. This is not just limited to ability, this is associated with qualifications too.  At no point should any government manager or any person in a leadership role be in that position without the prerequisite qualifications. 

Sure, you could argue there are people with qualifications that are absolutely hopeless. That is true, but there has to be some form of determination of competency and the tertiary sector is a pretty good start. The private sector values qualifications, what I see is education and training opportunities aligned to business outcomes, the tertiary sector targets outcomes industry consultation. 

What I see is friends and associates brought in by a marginal selection process that has unfortunately been corrupted. These compromised people owe their position to their personal benefactors and the cycle of incompetence continues. They plant their people below them, now they have a force field of people surrounding them forming a shield of corruption. 

They reinforce their positions and engage in empire building, this is a non-competitive practice that the public sector employs. They parachute their friends, associates and followers into acting positions in direct contradiction to merit based employment requirements. When an official position is available, there is already an incumbent in the role and they are slotted in officially. Nobody else stands a chance, they never get a look in and that’s their plan.

Working back in Africa, I am exposed to corrupt management practices now that the Chinese have taken control of mining operations. I ask myself, does self interest corrupt ethics? Studying ethics at tertiary education, we learnt about the theory of ethics and how to apply ethical practices in the workplace.

Ok, so do businesses apply social responsibility in practice? In business, based on my workplace experiences, is ethics mandatory? The answer is a resounding yes. Corporate social responsibility is not just a buzzword, this is a values derived philosophy that underpins all facets of business operations. A values driven organisation is mandatory in the current business environment, a business does have a ## to maintain strong relationships in their community.

So why don’t government departments embrace business principles? Well, it is their recruitment practices for starters, they do not recruit managers, not mates. Whilst an employment standard is required, this requirement is frequently circumvented by cronies appointing their stooges in influential positions to prop up their little empires. Instead they promote the schemers, the empire builders and networkers – they do not promote competent and ethical people.

Next, recruit leaders, this is the disconnect. You need managers to plan, coordinate, organise and control – management is measurement. Leadership is developing a vision, creating motivation through inspiration for team members – this is not the domain of the public sector. Now, leadership is more than hanging a few leadership pictures on the wall, some quotes here and there, genuine leadership is embedded in everyday activities.

With no values, no direction and no ethics displayed, this is where the disconnect is seeded. A select few receive all the benefits whilst the rest toil away for poor conditions and little to no benefits. This mistrust occurs, this is not teamwork that gets the job done, this leads to inferior performance, increased absentees and the rest of the team emulating the behaviours they are witnessing.

Known as Baby Grange after Penfolds most famous shiraz, the Bin 389 has some parts of the wine matured in the same barrels as the previous vintage Grange.  As this is a Cabernet Shiraz, I am not really seeing Grange here, but I get the linkages to some degree.

Max Schubert first blended Bin 389 in 1960, but the 2013 really isn’t a Baby Grange as this is a 51/49% cabernet sauvignon/shiraz blend. Grange is pretty much shiraz so it really isn’t the same. With fruit sourced from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Wrattonbully and Coonawarra, this is an elegantly blended wine.

I had planned to drink a Yarra Yering Dry Red No.1 but forgot to pull the bottle out before I headed off to work. I had just reached a milestone in my retirement fund on Friday the 9th of April 2021, so it was worth a drink with my father on a Friday night as we had a barbecue. So I picked up a pretty decent bottle on the way over to my parents house after work. Drinking a 2013 vintage in 2021 is a decent enough maturation. Pretty smooth, not over done – this is a pretty decent example of Penfolds winemaking.

As the fighting rages in the Donbas region, is Russia taking heavy losses? Media reporting would tend to indicate that it is, what is supporting my views is Russian forces are not making any gains either. Ukraine is at least holding ground and possibly making some inroads into regaining some of their lost territory – they are fighting back effectively. 

Whilst it would seem imperative Ukraine is taking back ground, locking down Russian forces and denying further advances is pretty good at this point. Yes, we would all like to see the Russian invades chased out of the country, locking Russian forces into a defensive strategy. Given their logistics problems, if Ukraine can disrupt their supply lines they can not get fuel, food and ammunition then they can be cleaned up.

Whilst Ukraine has ceded control of Maripol to Russian forces, this dogged resistance has locked down Russian assets that could not be deployed to the Donna’s region. Now that Maripol has been taken, a smaller occupying force will be left in place with forces moved to shoring up Donbas defensive areas. There is discussions that Russian moral is low, they are exhausted and they are running low on equipment and munitions. 

It appears Russia is not engaging in offensive tactics after the bungled Donbas River crossing. I am reading that Russian troops are disobeying orders as they are aware their commanders are just treating them as expendable canon fodder. Mothers and wives are asking questions in Russia, they want to know where their sons and husbands are, they are protesting out in the open.

When viewing a high end chronograph, the Rolex Daytona is highly sought after, they are next to impossible to purchase from an authorised dealer. This is ironic, when the Daytoma was initially released back in 1963, it was not a success, they wouldn’t sell. Now though, purchasing a Cosmograph Daytona [if you can get one] is going to set you back the price of a decent motor vehicle. 

This is amazing how this has changed, the Rolex Daytona is very much collectable, I have tried one on when I was in Hong Kong in 2017. Mostly when I visit a Rolex boutique, there isn’t much chance to try on a Cosmograph Daytona, they are pretty scarce, don’t expect a discount.    

An oystersteel starts at around $18,000 AUD, that’s really stainless steel to the non-Rolex buyer. An oystersteel and yellow gold starts at $24,600 AUD before the price really starts to head north. A yellowgold is $46,350 AUD in basic form, white gold isn’t much more at $48,050 along with the everose gold with a platinum version with price on request. 

So, a little searching on the Chrono24 website, starting around $160,000 AUD right up to $220,000 AUD with a version with Arabic numerals replacing the hour index at $417,916 AUD. This outrageous, precious metal Cosmograph Daytona will set you back a pretty decent motor vehicle or a sizable deposit on a property.

Navigating around the Zenith webpage, a Ref 03.3100.3600/69.M3100 El Primero Chronomaster Sport retails for $14,300 AUD, not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but well priced as compared to the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. A ceramic bezel insert really accentuates the dial, the three sub-dials are coloured in a unique dial styling. The 41 mm case is fitted with a stainless steel bracelet, a fabric strap is also available with a triple folding clasp but I prefer the steel bracelet version. 

Ok, so what do you get movement wise? A column wheel chronograph with a power reserve of 60 hours. The El Primero movement is iconic, the 60 hour power reserve is pretty decent considering the 36,000 vph [5 Hz] frequency. The 1/10 th of a second chronograph has a central counter making a revolution every 10 seconds, a small seconds counter at the 9 o’clock position, a 60 second counter at 3 o’clock and 60 minute counter at the 6 o’clock position. I would certainly consider the Zenith Chronomaster Sport as an alternative to a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona.