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30 October 2025
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Thank you to those who responded to last week’s reader survey. We love to hear what you think of Firstlinks and appreciate your engagement.
Some trends that have become clear already include:
I’ve included a selection of comments below. Do you have anything to add?
If you had planned to do the survey ‘later’ and haven’t quite got there, we’ll be keeping it open until Wednesday 17th July.
Lastly, thanks to the majority of readers who recommend Firstlinks to friends and family. If you know someone who would benefit from regularly reading Firstlinks, please forward this subscription link to them.
Leisa Bell is Assistant Editor at Firstlinks.
In the interests of recognizing the complete investment universe, my memory of the survey is that it did not include recognition of investments in Corporate Bonds or direct real estate although it did include things like cryptocurrencies. I think this is out of balance.
First Links' articles are informative and easy to read. Excellent mix of topics which keep the readers well informed. I look forward to reading them each week.
Firstlinks is a terrific source of balanced and educational information while at the same time being inspiring
Global data indicate that "Huston, we have a problem" (climate changes, global financial system, society decline, etc.; our current way of life, in general, is in crisis and/or in continuous decline in the past 8-10 years). The way we operate is simply not sustainable and new technology cannot solve everything, but we don't want to hear, or acknowledge any of this (i.e. not visible and/or considered anywhere in our generally optimistic view of the investment universe). Note: Past performance is not indicative of the future. :) (The future I cannot see, but I'm a pessimistic optimist.)
Hi Again (I can't add re-enter the survey, it disallows because I have already commented, so I am adding another thought here.) As someone invested in property, I separate out the Investor world of Firstlinks from more familiar territory. However when it did come up in Firstlinks some months ago, there did not seem to be the recognition of capital gains as being a significant part of the wealth creation in the comparison with other investments.
An excellent 2,135 responses to the Survey. Most readers are in older age brackets, usually with an SMSF, about 30% are market professionals, and they value our independence and lack of product flogging. 94% say they already have or are likely to recommended Cuffelinks to a friend.
The Cuffelinks team would like to thank you for your time in responding to our latest Reader Survey - your feedback is most encouraging. It gives us valuable insights into how our newsletter and website are being received.
Younger Australians think they’ll need $100k a year in retirement - nearly double what current retirees spend. Expectations are rising fast, but are they realistic or just another case of lifestyle inflation?
In any year since 1875, if you'd invested in the ASX, turned away and come back eight years later, your average return would be 120% with no negative periods. It's just one of the must-have stats that all investors should know.
Five mega trends point to risks of a more inflation prone and lower growth environment. This, along with rich market valuations, should constrain medium term superannuation returns to around 5% per annum.
Whether for yourself or a family member, it’s never too early to start thinking about aged care. This looks at the best ways to plan ahead, as well as the changes coming to aged care from November 1 this year.
Labor has caved to pressure on key parts of the Division 296 tax, though also added some important nuances. Here are six experts’ views on the changes and what they mean for you.
If you need income then buying dividend stocks makes perfect sense. But if you don’t then it makes little sense because it’s likely to limit building real wealth. Here’s what you should do instead.
With investor sentiment shifting and ETFs surging ahead, we pit Australia’s biggest LICs against their ETF rivals to see which delivers better returns over the short and long term. The results are revealing.
More Australians are retiring with larger mortgages and less super. This paper explores how unlocking housing wealth can help ease the nation’s growing retirement cashflow crunch.
Investing in the ASX 20 or 200 requires vigilance. Blue chips aren’t immune to failure, and the old belief that you can simply hold them forever is outdated.
Adding high-quality compounders at attractive valuations is difficult in an efficient market. However, during the volatile FY25 reporting season, an opportunity arose to increase a position in Mexican fast-food chain GYG.
Factor-based ETFs are bridging the gap between active and passive investing, giving investors low-cost access to proven drivers of long-term returns such as quality, value, momentum and dividend yield.
In Breakneck, Dan Wang contrasts China’s “engineering state” with America’s “lawyerly society,” showing how these mindsets drive innovation, dysfunction, and reshape global power amid rising rivalry.
The rules to age successfully include, 'the unexamined life lasts longer', 'change no more than one-eighth of your life at a time', 'nobody is thinking about you', and 'pursue virtue but don’t sweat it'.