The following was taken from a financial planner website. It makes you think: "Is the media just giving us the 'feel' of gloom about shares?"
In what has been a tumultuous period for investment markets, a cash buffer may have served you well, however if you refer to the graph below you will see the long term returns of cash through different markets:

$100,000 invested in Term Deposits and Australian Industrial Shares since 1982

From an income perspective the purple bars above represent the increasing dividends on $100,000 invested in Australian Industrial shares over the long-term. The blue bars show a comparison of the interest received over the years from a Term Deposit investment. On the left hand scale you will note the great variance over time in the amount of income produced by Term Deposits compared with Australian shares and that Term Deposits fall a long way behind as the years progress.

From a capital value perspective on the right hand scale, the green line shows the value of a $100,000 share investment growing over the years where the red line demonstrates that Term Deposits do not increase in value. It should be noted that this is before the eroding effect that inflation has on the real value of the investment.

In summary the graph demonstrates that historically cash over the long term is not an investment that delivers the returns Australian shares can potentially provide, from both a growth and income perspective, even though cash can offer short term relief from the volatility of the sharemarket. (Remember the past is not always indicative of the future)

Whilst it is not suitable for everyone to have their investments wholly in shares, having your entire investment in cash will leave you a long way behind in the long term. In light of the current market conditions we would like to discuss how we may be able to assist you in the review of your portfolio or any other needs you may have.

Please do not make an investment decision based on information in this email. To ensure that your investment strategy remains appropriate, please contact us on 1800 622 892 to further discuss your situation.

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Travelling in own car? A recent case held that the cost of travel from full-time place of employment to his part-time place of employment was deductible (ie work to work). Remember, however, that an employee cannot deduct the ordinary cost of travel to and from their usual place of employment. If you must carry very large bulky work items then maybe you can claim to and from home.

Here's an idea:
Ask your employer to give you a travel allowance, especially if you are in the building game. The award often has provision for this.  You are entitled to claim reasonable travel expenses if incurred in the course of gaining income. And there is no direct evidence to be kept by you, so long as you claim less than the reasonable amounts in the tables of Taxation Determination TD 2010/19.

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