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Graham Hand

Royal Commission 2: Goodbye grandfathering, hello fee-for-service

Grandfathering and the implications for commissions has become a major flash point, and the Royal Commission is focussing on problems created when advisers are given the wrong incentives.

Royal Commission 3: A ban on all percentage-based fees?

The Royal Commission is asking whether percentage-based fees offer the wrong incentives and why administration is not a flat fee business. Where might this go in wealth management?

Thanks for the Royal Commission feedback

The Financial Services Royal Commission is discovering behaviour that is far worse than expected, with widespread implications for wealth management. Banks are challenged making the vertical integration model work.

$1 million v $500,000 and accepting a pension

A reader asks whether people can stay off the age pension by reducing the amount of money they live on in retirement but not drawing on their capital.

$1 million is never worth less than $500,000

It's become common to claim there is no incentive to save more than $500,000 because of the loss of age pensions and possibly franking credits. But these arguments overlook the way super is supposed to operate.

Cuffelinks Special 250th Edition 2018

Special Edition 250 includes over 30 market experts sharing a mistake that made them better investors. Since Edition 1 of Cuffelinks, we have focussed on independent expert insights from high-profile finance professionals to deliver useful ideas to our community, now over 35,000 strong.

Latest Updates

Superannuation

Super crosses the retirement Rubicon

Australia's superannuation system faces a 'Rubicon' moment, a turning point where the focus is shifting from accumulation phase to retirement readiness, but unfortunately, many funds are not rising to the challenge.

Economy

Should Australia follow Trump's new brand of capitalism?

A new brand of capitalism may be emerging - one where governments take equity in private companies. Is it state overreach, or a smarter way to fund public goods without raising taxes?

Gold

Why gold may keep rising - and what could stop it

Central banks are buying, Asia’s investing, and gold’s going digital. The World Gold Council CEO reveals the structural shifts transforming the gold market - and the one economic wildcard that could change everything. 

Investment strategies

Fact, fiction and fission: The future of nuclear energy

Nuclear power is back in the spotlight, including in Australia. For investors exploring the sector, here are four key factors to consider in this evolving energy landscape. 

Taxation

The myth of Australia’s high corporate tax rate

Australia’s corporate tax rate is widely seen as a growth-killing burden. But for most local investors, it’s a mirage - erased by dividend imputation. So why is it still shaping national policy? 

Taxation

Should we change the company tax rate?

The headline 30% corporate tax rate masks a complex system of dividend imputation and franking credits that ensures Australian shareholders are taxed only once, challenging traditional measures of tax competitiveness. 

Investing

Noise cancelling for investors

A lot of the information at an investor's fingertips today has little long-term value. The modern investing greats are not united by access to faster information, but by their ability to filter out what doesn’t matter.

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