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5 December 2025
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Chris has many years of experience in building successful wealth management practices.
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Firstlinks’ co-founder and former Managing Editor, Graham Hand, has died aged 66. Graham was a legendary figure in the finance industry and here are three tributes to him.
Most people do not spend enough time thinking about achieving the best outcomes from their estate or gifts and loans before they die. Consider a trust to look after the needs of all your descendants, forever.
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.
Chris Cuffe reminds us about a charitable-giving structure allowing a full tax deduction now even if the donation is spread over future years. Elsewhere, make sure you are not converting capital to taxable income.
The Design and Distribution Obligations (DDO) come into effect in two weeks. They will change the way banks promote products, force some small funds to close to new members and push issues into the listed space.
Chris Cuffe has spent four decades selecting fund managers for multi-manager portfolios, and he explains what he looks for and why active management can work, as well as updating his investment lessons.
In an interview with Firstlinks, CEO Mark Freeman discusses how speculative ASX stocks have crushed blue chips this year, companies he likes now, and why he’s confident AFIC’s NTA discount will close.
The ASX's performance this year has again highlighted a persistent riddle facing investors – how to approach an index reliant on a few sectors and handful of stocks. Here are some ideas on how to build a durable portfolio.
Despite three years under the retirement income covenant, regulators warn a growing gap between leading and lagging super funds, driven by poor member insights and patchy outcomes measurement.
The ASX seems a market split in two: between the haves and have nots; or those with growth and momentum and those without. In this environment, opportunity favours those willing to look beyond the obvious.
OpenAI’s business model isn't sustainable in the long run. If markets catch on, the company could face higher borrowing costs, or worse, and that would have major spillover effects.
‘Hyperscalers’ including Google, Meta and Microsoft are fuelling an unprecedented surge in equity and debt issuance to bankroll massive AI-driven capital expenditure. History shows this isn't without risk.
Leveraged ETFs seek to deliver some multiple of an underlying index or reference asset’s return over a day. Yet, they aren’t even delivering the target return on an average day as they’re meant to do.