What is Cuffelinks?
Cuffelinks is an independent publishing service providing content written by financial market professionals with experience in wealth management, superannuation, banking, academia and financial advice. Its Principals are investors and practitioners with long careers in senior management positions, and along with our successes, we have made our fair share of mistakes. We want to share both the knowledge and the battle scars. We want a community of investors which discusses ideas from an informed and impartial point of view, without pushing products or promoting services. Cuffelinks has long-term sponsors but we don’t accept one-off advertising or paid promotions and we are independent of any institution.
Cuffelinks does not provide financial advice, and we do not know the personal or financial circumstances of any of our readers. However, we believe there is a strong need for investors to access quality financial writing, both to hear the different sides of any investment opportunity, and to improve their financial literacy. We provide strategies and guidance rather than trying to time the market, picking stocks or selecting next year’s star fund manager. In particular, we aim to inform investors about markets, regulations, structures and useful ideas.
Many mainstream publications have either closed or reduced staff resources, often retrenching their longest-serving journalists, not because of a lack of need for their experience, but to reduce costs. We are not journalists, but we want to connect investors with ideas. We accept that the Principals and Contributors on Cuffelinks are not the font of all knowledge, but none of us ever stops learning.
Our target audience is ‘engaged investors’, particularly those who manage their own money, and financial market professionals.
Cuffelinks operates with the following basic principles:
* Superannuation is an important part of every Australian’s long term savings plan and financial wellbeing.
* The aim of every investor should be financial independence and creating lifestyle options for later stages of their lives.
* We are not advocates for any specific type of superannuation fund, as the merits of various structures such as pooled super funds (commercial funds, industry funds, corporate funds) and self managed super funds depend on individual circumstances.
* We do not promote any particular form of holding securities (direct or managed funds, listed or unlisted, active or passive) as we believe they all hold a place.
* Financial advisers should play an important role in the savings, retirement, estate planning and protection strategies of the majority of Australians, especially as they approach retirement.
* There is no one correct investment strategy for anyone, and like any life skill, investors need to be as financially literate as possible to participate in their own investing.
* Investors should match their assets to their risk appetites, since the ability to cope mentally with volatile markets is as important as the financial performance.
Cuffelinks is not a news service, a short term stock picker or economic commentator. We focus on investment strategies and ideas with a medium to long term market horizon. We encourage readers to take a ‘through the cycle’, risk-aware perspective. We provide information that can be practically applied.
The finance world is littered with newsletters and websites giving hundreds of stock selections and market predictions, often contradicting each other, and subject to constant reframing as the next bit of unexpected news hits the market. Most of our content stands the test of time.