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18 August 2025
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The creator of the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals, Bill Bengen, has written a new book outlining fresh strategies to outlive your money, including holding fewer stocks in early retirement before increasing allocations.
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Are franking credits factored into share prices? The data suggests they're probably not, and there are certain types of stocks that offer higher franking credits as well as the prospect for higher returns.
ASFA’s latest estimates reveal that home-owning couples need at least $690,000 in super for a ‘comfortable’ retirement, yet only around 30% of people meet these thresholds, and the shortfall may deepen.
The role of family and community as foundations of a healthy society have been allowed to weaken. This has brought about Australia's spiritual decline and a thirst for dopamine that explains our high debt levels.
Despite the perception that successful investors nimbly navigate each zig and zag in the market, the evidence suggests otherwise. This approach can help an investor avoid self-harming their returns.
It wasn't long ago that investors were asking if US exceptionalism could continue. They now appear to be diversifying away from dollar assets and shifting to a more active US equity allocation.
This is a primer on high yield bonds - their risk and returns compared to investment grade securities, diversification benefits, and strategies for selecting high yield investments for enhanced portfolio yields.
Welcome to Firstlinks Edition 624 with weekend update 4
Three cheers for the RBA? Interest rates alone aren’t going to revive our economy, though new research details much-needed reforms that will. Meanwhile, a fund manager survey nails the key driver for soaring markets.Read More.
This goes through the different options including shares, property and business ownership and declares a winner, as well as outlining the mindset needed to earn enough to never have to work again.
With term deposit rates falling, bonds holding up but with risks attached, and stocks yielding comparatively paltry sums, finding decent income is becoming harder. Here’s a guide to the best places to hunt for yield.
Stablecoins have been hyped as a gamechanger for the payments industry. But while they could find success in certain niches, a broader upheaval of Visa and Mastercard's payments dominance looks unlikely.
We are trading through one of history's most confounding market environments. One day, financial headlines warn of doomsday scenarios. The next, they celebrate a new golden age. How can investors keep a clear head?
Here's a comprehensive list of proposed reforms to fix Australia's stagnating economy, including introducing a flat income tax rate, reducing migration, and making childcare tax-deductible.
We overvalue the present and underestimate the future - it’s a cognitive glitch called hyperbolic discounting. It affects savings, spending, and loans, and it's more common - and costly - than we think.
Each generation believes its economic challenges were uniquely tough - but what does the data say? A closer look reveals a more nuanced, complex story behind the generational hardship debate.
A tearful Treasury chief, a backbench rebellion, and crashing bonds. What just happened in the UK and why could Australia’s NDIS be headed for the same brutal fiscal reality?
As the US debt ceiling looms, the usual warnings about a potential crash in bond and equity markets have started to appear. Investors can take confidence from history but should keep an eye on two main indicators.
As inflation eases, the Albanese government is switching its focus to lifting Australia’s sluggish productivity. Can corporate tax cuts reboot growth - or are we chasing a theory that doesn’t quite work here?
The US economy faces an unprecedented clash in leadership styles, but the President and Fed Chair could both take a lesson from the other. Not least because the fiscal and monetary authorities need to work together.
America prides itself on being a Government of the people. But the nation that invented modern democracy is no longer the model for it, and compares unfavourably to other regions where democracy is taking hold.
After a stellar 2025 to date for equities, warning signs - from speculative froth to stretched valuations - suggest the market’s calm may be masking deeper fragilities. Strategic rebalancing feels increasingly timely.
Everyone has a theory as to why housing in Australia is so expensive. There are a lot of different factors at play, from skewed migration patterns to banking trends and housing's status as a national obsession.
Blackberry clung on to the superiority of keyboards at the beginning of the touchscreen era and paid the ultimate price. Could the rise of agentic AI and a new generation of hardware do something similar to Apple?
The bond market is quietly regaining strength. As rate cuts loom and economic growth moderates, high-quality credit and global fixed income present renewed opportunities for investors seeking income and stability.
Companies trading at over 10x revenue now account for over 20% of the MSCI World index, levels not seen since the dotcom bubble. Can these shares create lasting value, or are they destined to unravel?
Many investors are hesitant to buy into a market that feels like it’s already climbed too far, too fast. But what does nearly a century of market history suggest about investing at peaks?
The $3 million super tax has many rethinking their super strategies, especially issues of wealth transfer on death. This reviews the taxes on super benefits and offers investment alternatives.
For much of Australia’s history, each new generation has been better off than the last: better jobs and incomes as well as improved living standards. A new report assesses whether this time may be different.
Inspired by the papal conclave, this explores how families can avoid post-death drama through honest conversations, better planning, and trial runs - so there are no surprises when it really matters.
Trusts offer flexibility and asset protection, but in relationship breakdowns, courts can 'look through' them. Understanding control, purpose, and asset origins is key to preserving trust benefits in family law disputes.
Life expectancy isn't just a number - it's a concept that changes with survival rates over time. This article breaks down how age, survival, and societal factors shape our understanding of life expectancy, especially post-Covid.
Lately, there's been a push by Government for lifetime income streams as a solution to retirement income challenges. We run the numbers on these products to see whether they deliver on what they promise.
As more money looks for a home outside the US, Asia may soon get some love. Fidelity's Anthony Srom outlines the best places in Asia to invest, including in Chinese consumer names, Indian financials, and Thailand.
Stockland’s development chief discusses supply constraints, government initiatives and the impact of Japanese-owned homebuilders on the industry. He also talks of green shoots in a troubled property market.
Portfolio Manager Ted Alexander outlines the changes that he's made to Platinum's International Fund portfolio since taking charge in March, while staying true to its contrarian, value-focused roots.
Despite a recent pullback, gold has been one of the best performing assets this year. What are the key factors behind the rise and what's needed for the bull market in the yellow metal to continue?
MFS chief investment officer and CEO elect Ted Maloney talks market risks, similarities between Trump and Harris, and the most important thing investors can do to avoid destroying value.
In a recent interview, Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor explains why low-cost investing wins, how artificial intelligence and ESG will bring lots of opportunities, and why distractions are an investor's worst enemy.
Markets are soaring and Warren Buffett is again being written off as a has-been. Time will tell if his detractors are proven wrong but it got me thinking about Buffett’s legacy and whether we’ll see another investor like him.
Meme stocks are roaring, SPACs are getting blank cheques, cryptocurrency coins are flying and retail investors are all in – markets are partying like its 2021. Are stocks headed for another reality check or is this time different?
How do prices of everyday items in Australia stack up against other major cities around the world? A new guide is out on how our quality of life, rental costs, and prices for phones, coffee, and taxis compare to others.
In the first two years of the Albanese government, federal public service numbers ex-defence force increased 57%. Though much of this rise is questionable, larger problems of government bloat may lie elsewhere.
In 2025, the dominant consensus trade has gone from being long US assets to long almost everything else. It’s not often a market narrative changes that fast, so how can investors tell if this one will last or not?
Stocks had a topsy-turvy first half of the year though ended solidly, while bonds dumped and commodities were mixed, with gold being the star performer. What’s ahead for markets in the second half and 2026 fiscal year?
How does a strategy built around systematically buying-and-holding a basket of the market's biggest losers perform? It turns out pretty well, so why don't more investors do it?
The structure of many dividend ETFs leads to lacklustre or non-existent dividend growth. Balancing high yields with long-term dividend growth is essential for effective income investing.
One of Buffett's most successful investments has been a confectionery company that he bought more than 50 years ago. The investment demonstrates that stocks need not be growth companies to create fortunes.
Shani Jayamanne takes a deliberately uninterested approach to investing. She outlines the technical and circumstantial reasons for why she goes against the grain and focuses on the real drivers of investment success.
Why do people have trouble shifting from a saving to spending mindset in retirement? Researchers have plenty of theories though can't identify an exact cause, nevertheless there are things that can enable the shift.
For those with the patience to own an investment as volatile as the AI sector, buying and holding a stock basket might make sense. However, based on internet stocks’ history, you need not rush to do so.
expanding its smart beta range with the VanEck MSCI International Growth ETF (ASX: GWTH).
virtual event: Crypto Investor Symposium, 17 Sep 2025.
online event: Super Intensive Day 2025, 16 Sept 2025.
Australia boasts one of the world's highest dividend yielding sharemarkets, providing substantial benefits to investors and retirees. Despite this, individuals often stretch for even more yield, to their detriment.
Borrowing to invest provides greater exposure to the share market and its potential gains or losses, as well as more associated franking credits. However, there are additional risks and costs to consider.
Kerry Packer managed his companies to minimise their tax. He would have loved super and franking credits. A super fund needs only 32% allocated to fully franked shares to pay no income tax on its entire portfolio.
Stocks always outperform bonds in the long-term, right? New research challenges that assumption, raising questions about historical financial data, and forecasts for future performance from the two largest asset classes.