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25 November 2025
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When you've been around long enough to have witnessed financial disasters, you wonder at the exuberance of youth embracing the great unknown. Are you missing out or will being old and tired eventually prevail?
Poor quality companies sometimes deliver impressive short term gains, especially when left behind in a previous rally, but the longer term is likely to disappoint. When equity markets turn, nobody likes to be exposed.
Investments using margin loans must at least cover the cost of interest and other fees, currently around 8%. Fewer investors are using these products, but how long until we fall in love all over again?
The current crop of LNG projects represents a combined $188 billion in investment, but Japanese buyers are looking at other sources. What they find may have a significant impact on returns for Australian investors.
Poor management can quickly erode value, even in a good business, so it’s important to have confidence in the people pulling the levers.
Buying long-term bonds at yields below historical inflation rates is asking for trouble, despite the recent rises in bond rates. Even QE policymakers have their doubts.
With fertility rates at a record low, many say young people aren’t having kids because they’re too expensive. Turns out, it’s not that simple and there are likely other factors at play.
Passive ETFs have become wildly popular just as markets, especially the US, reach extreme valuations. For long-term investors, these ETFs make sense, though if you're investing in them to chase performance, look out below.
The Big Four banks shrugged off doomsayers with their recent results, posting low loan losses, solid margins, and rising dividends. It underscores their resilience, but lofty valuations mean it’s time to be selective.
AI is booming, but like the 19th-century gold rush, the real profits may go to those supplying the tools and energy, not the companies at the centre of the rush.
Economic experts, including the RBA, get plenty of forecasts wrong, but that doesn't make such forecasts worthless. The key isn't to predict perfectly – it's to understand the range of possibilities and plan accordingly.
Wealth keeps growing, yet few ask “how much is enough?” or what their kids truly need. After 23 years in philanthropy, I’ve seen how unexamined wealth can limit impact, and why Australia needs a stronger giving culture.