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Alex Denham

The impact of our marriage breakdown on our SMSF

Even if a marriage ends amicably, there are complications when partners share an SMSF. You can't simply 'split' the assets on a handshake, and who takes the capital gains and what's the impact on an estate?

How an SMSF member can access cash under COVID-19 rules

The wide range of measures introduced due to COVID-19 include relaxation of some superannuation rules, giving some people access to cash. But watch other rules as it's not a super open-house. 

It’s time for SMSF accountants and advisers to be friends

In the world of SMSFs, an aligned accountant and financial adviser can make a formidable, synergistic team. Specialists who can’t be friends can be the opposite, when the best interests of the client are paramount.

‘Best interests’ requires walking in their shoes

Financial adviser education, training and legislating ethical standards will help improve 'best interests' practices, but what about adviser experience? This important quality is near impossible to regulate.

Lessons from my Dad, in and out of aged care

No amount of experience as an adviser specialising in aged care prepared Alex for the actual events her father faced inside an aged care facility. It might be about care, but it's a profit-making business.

Is it time to review your super pension?

If the sum of a couple’s pension balances is over $1.6 million and a spouse dies, what can the survivor do to keep the assets in the superannuation environment?

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 Blue chips aren’t immune to failure, and the old belief that you can simply hold them forever is outdated.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