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7 November 2026
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We like a good debate, and when two opposing views argued about the role of government bonds in a diversified portfolio, a veteran of 30 years in fixed interest stepped in as referee.
Guest Editor, Warren Bird, worked with Chris Cuffe at Colonial First State, and he brings clarity to the complex world of fixed interest, bonds and investing. Here are his favourite articles from the past six years.
Claims that zero tax rates on superannuation pension funds are a rort are misinformed because they ignore the taxes paid to put money into super, and the social contract that super was designed for.
In the week that marks 30 years since Chris Cuffe joined what became Colonial First State, a former colleague reflects on what makes a business successful, and what may have been lost from those early days.
The current system is fundamentally fair as domestic shareholders pay tax on fully franked dividends at their own tax rate. This is what imputation should achieve and why we need franking credits refunded.
The reality of investing in a bond is that regardless of whether we have experienced a massive bull market, the most a bond is worth at maturity is the face value.
Politicians are fighting over access to super, but they may be arguing about the wrong thing. The system’s three fundamental flaws have been hiding in plain sight for decades, costing Australians far more than they realise.
Why do some families preserve wealth for generations while others struggle to? As the great wealth transfer unfolds, the determining factor is often not the structure of the estate, but the preparation of those who will inherit it.
For years, bank hybrids have been a cornerstone of portfolio income. With tens of billions of dollars now disappearing from the market, investors face a critical question: what comes next, and are the obvious replacements enough?
What happens when knowledge becomes a commodity? The latest themes emerging from the US tech sector suggest AI could reshape company moats, disrupt incumbents and create winners and losers in unexpected places.
Warren Buffett's departure marks the end of an era. But the more important question for investors is whether Berkshire's culture, discipline and capital allocation framework can survive without the man who built them.
For years, retirees have been told to focus on withdrawal rates. But the real question is far simpler: how many dollars can you safely spend? The answer may be very different from what conventional retirement wisdom suggests.
For more than a decade, investors lived through an era of near-zero interest rates. With bond yields now surging, it's worth asking whether cheap money solved economic problems, or introduced a much larger set of risks.