Last week I attended my first in person wealth management symposium since COVID. It was so good to see people in IRL - to chat, query, debate, challenge, and learn. By far by favourite topic was the final leg of the symposium where the presenters discussed the domestic property market their outlook. I'm really curious about this asset class for a number of reasons - I have vested interest in my home, my investments, my developments, and it's such a large exposure for Australian's and the economy.

Earlier this year I bough Bitcoin for the first time. I wrote about it here in June. Since I bought Bitcoin, the price has fallen 50%, and risen again by almost 150%. I wrote at the time:

If you think this inflation thing isn't happening in the land down under? Well, let me assure you it is. Forget monetary inflation, we have time inflation. Everything is just taking so much longer. I waited in line for over 30 minutes at Mad Mex at Chadstone on Sunday afternoon just to place my order. Who would wait over 30 minutes in line for a burrito? Generally I wouldn't either, believe me, but I had 2 whinging kids hanging off me, we just spent 3 hours at Lego Land, and man I was hangry. Forget waiting 30 minutes for a burrito, you want a new Tesla? Forget about it. You're waiting 12 months.

From one grinding halt to another. Supermarkets' empty shelves, labour shortages, cars on back order, rail yards clogged, and ships are unable to dock and unload their cargo. One bottleneck follows another. And these bottlenecks are causing prices to spiral out of control. It's not only the bottlenecks themselves that are causing prices to rise, factories and product/service providers are struggling to keep up with surging consumer demand post pandemic.

As Melbourne begins to re-open, having endured the world's longest lockdowns, the stock market has also just gotten through what is historically one of the most volatile periods of the year (Q3), and now we're on the final stretch home - I think I can hear sleigh bells in the distance. Could Santa Claus have arrived a little early this year? It looks like it.

The price of land was soaring. The cost of cotton and slaves rose sharply. Speculative lending standards and a land bubble of the edge of bursting forced interest rates to rise around the world, and crisis followed the economic expansion of 1834 and 1836. After a brief recovery from 1838 to 1839, it wasn't until 1843 following a gold rush, that the economy was booming again by 1850.