Register to receive our free weekly newsletter including editorials.
12 December 2025
Recently trending
Steve: "The best that comes into our world each week. This is the only one that is never, ever canned before fully being reviewed by yours truly."
Reader: "Is one of very few places an investor can go and not have product rammed down their throat. Love your work!"
Professor Robert Deutsch: "This has got to be the best set of articles on economic and financial matters. Always something worthwhile reading in Firstlinks. Thankyou"
Reader: "I subscribe to two newsletters. This is my first read of the week. Thank you. Excellent and please keep up the good work!"
Andrew Buchan, Partner, HLB Mann Judd: "I have told you a thousand times it's the best newsletter."
Reader: " Finding a truly independent and interesting read has been magical for me. Please keep it up and don't change!"
Reader: "Love it, just keep doing what you are doing. It is the right length too, any longer and it might become a bit overwhelming."
John Egan, Egan Associates: "My heartiest congratulations. Your panel of contributors is very impressive and keep your readers fully informed."
Don Stammer, leading Australian economist: "Congratulations to all associated. It deserves the good following it has."
Reader: "I can quickly sort the items that I am interested in, then research them more fully. It is also a regular reminder that I need to do this."
Eleanor Dartnall, AFA Adviser of the Year, 2014: "Our clients love your newsletter. Your articles are avidly read by advisers and they learn a great deal."
Reader: "An island of professionalism in an ocean of shallow self-interest. Well done!"
Reader: "Congratulations on a great focussed news source. Australia has a dearth of good quality unbiased financial and wealth management news."
Jonathan Hoyle, CEO, Stanford Brown: "A fabulous publication. The only must-read weekly publication for the Australian wealth management industry."
Reader: "Best innovation I have seen whilst an investor for 25 years. The writers are brilliant. A great publication which I look forward to."
Rob Henshaw: "When I open my computer each day it's the first link I click - a really great read."
John Pearce, Chief Investment Officer, Unisuper: "Out of the (many many) investmentrelated emails I get, Cuffelinks is one that I always open."
Reader: "It's excellent so please don't pollute the content with boring mainstream financial 'waffle' and adverts for stuff we don't want!"
Noel Whittaker, author and financial adviser: "A fabulous weekly newsletter that is packed full of independent financial advice."
Reader: "The BEST in the game because of diversity and not aligned to financial products. Stands above all the noise."
Reader: "Keep it up - the independence is refreshing and is demonstrated by the variety of well credentialed commentators."
Ian Kelly, CFP, BTACS Financial Services: "Probably the best source of commentary and information I have seen over the past 20 years."
Reader: "Great resource. Cuffelinks is STILL the one and only weekly newsletter I regularly read."
Scott Pape, author of The Barefoot Investor: "I'm an avid reader of Cuffelinks. Thanks for the wonderful resource you have here, it really is first class."
Reader: "Carry on as you are - well done. The average investor/SMSF trustee needs all the help they can get."
Ian Silk, CEO, AustralianSuper: "It has become part of my required reading: quality thinking, and (mercifully) to the point."
David Goldschmidt, Chartered Accountant: "I find this a really excellent newsletter. The best I get. Keep up the good work!"
The gold industry faces a momentous transformation due to new technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrency. This report explores how digitalisation could redefine gold's role in financial markets.
A second quarter of significant investment in gold-backed ETFs, along with elevated bar and coin buying, drove total Q2 gold demand up 3% y/y to 1,249t. Meanwhile, jewellery consumption weakened further in the face of record gold prices.
Gold rose 26% in H1 2025, outpacing major asset classes. As we look forward, consensus expectations of macroeconomic drivers suggest that gold may remain range-bound in H2 with the possibility of some upside.
Key factors that have fuelled gold’s price rise in 2025 include the spectre of US tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, stock market volatility and US dollar weakness. A sharp revival in gold ETF inflows led to a more-than-doubling of total investment demand for the quarter.
Gold demand hit a new record in 2024 on the back of central bank buying, continued growth in AI adoption, investment and gold bar purchasing, while annual jewellery consumption was down reflecting cost-of-living pressures.
As we look to 2025, all eyes are focused on what Trump’s second term may mean for the global economy. Thrill-seeking investors may benefit from an early wave of risk-on flows, but potential trade wars and inflationary forces may spill over into an expected subpar economic growth.
The renowned investor says there’s no shortage of speculative investors chasing AI riches and there could be a lot of money lost in the process. His biggest warning goes to workers and the jobs which will be replaced by AI.
I am a professional real estate investor who hears a lot of opinions rather than facts from so-called experts on the topic of property. Here are the largest myths when it comes to Australia’s biggest asset class.
The superannuation system has succeeded brilliantly at what it was designed to do: accumulate wealth during working lives. The next challenge is meeting members’ diverse needs in retirement.
Inflated retirement targets have driven people away from planning. This explores the gap between industry ideals and real savings, and why honest, achievable benchmarks matter.
Sequencing risk can derail retirement, but you’re not powerless. Flexible withdrawals, investment choices and bucketing strategies can help retirees navigate unlucky markets and balance trade-offs.
Aged care rules have shifted. Selling the family home may no longer be the smartest option. This explains the capped means test, pension exemptions and new RAD exit fees reshaping the decision.
This gives comprehensive data on more than 100 years of boom and bust cycles on the US stock market - how the market performed during these cycles, where the current AI uptick sits, and what the future may hold.
Retail real estate is outperforming as a cyclical upswing, robust demand and constrained supply drive renewed investor interest. This looks at the outlook and the continued rise of convenience assets.