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Donal Griffin

How a carer inherited an estate

Carers may have a legitimate claim to an estate even if the deceased suffered from dementia when making a subsequent will. The Court seeks to establish whether testamentary capacity was disabled.

Record award in estate of John Hemmes

The success of this claim on John Hemmes' estate and the unexpected amount involved provides a reminder to ensure you have a robust estate plan in place.

10 things to check on your estate planning

Rule changes are causing modifications in expert advice on super beneficiaries and estate planning, and this checklist can guide your decisions or discussions with your chosen adviser.

Careless estate planning: how artists can lose their legal voice

Using the example of an artist's body of work being highly sought-after once the artist dies highlights the importance of appointing the right executors - ones that will handle your affairs the way you intended.

Caveat lender, and consistency in law

When combining family and financial matters, what starts out well can turn ugly. Not only should such dealings be properly documented, but also conducted in strict accordance with those documents.

Don’t leave your estate to clean up a super mess

Superannuation is increasingly attracting the attention of people who expected to be beneficiaries of an estate. Many are dismayed that superannuation is not treated the same as other assets under the will.

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Investment strategies

LICs vs ETFs – which perform best?

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.

Retirement

The growing debt burden of retiring Australians

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.

The ASX is full of broken blue chips

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 Blue chips aren’t immune to failure, and the old belief that you can simply hold them forever is outdated. 

Shares

Buying Guzman Y Gomez, and not just for the burritos

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.

Investment strategies

Factor investing and how to use ETFs to your advantage

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. 

Strategy

Engineers vs lawyers: the US-China divide that will shape this century

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. 

Retirement

18 rules for ageing well

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'.

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