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1 December 2023
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We interviewed Sir Michael Hintze while his credit-focused hedge fund CQS was at the height of its powers. Since then, he's changed the firm's investment strategy and found a buyer in Canadian giant, Manulife.
The dream of many investors is to be able to live off the dividend income from their shares. There is a relatively simple way to do this though it requires a mental fortitude that may not be for everyone.
Traditionally, equity income funds buy high-dividend companies but earnings growth should be a key component of an investment strategy. Receiving income from selling call options compensates for the lower dividends.
Harry Markowitz died last week at the age of 95. He was the 1990 Nobel Laureate and the father of Modern Portfolio Theory. He explained to me the magic moment when he realised how risk-return in portfolios works.
Every fund is measured against a benchmark, but active managers earn their fees by taking strong views contrary to an index. It requires fortitude in the short term as interviews with Orbis and Allan Gray show.
Following an overseas trip to see facilities and meet management and competitors, a fund manager has strengthened her conviction on three key stocks. Some companies can prosper in an economic slowdown.
Most asset classes haven't fully adjusted to the sharp interest rate rises. Prices of stocks, housing and commercial property need to fall for them to provide attractive yields compared with risk-free government bonds.
A collection of interviews with financial markets experts on investing, superannuation, retirement and other topical issues, as published by Firstlinks over 2021 and 2022.
Value investing relies on a fundamental assessment of the intrinsic worth of a company, based on risk and reward. Time has come for the more stable sectors such as the Utilities, Health Care or Consumer Staples.
Investing in Asia is challenging but with younger populations, many countries face less wage and inflation pressures than the West. Buying the index rarely pays off as it's more about finding the winning companies.
When a business that manages funds worth three times the entire Australian superannuation system enters the market, it's a sign of yet more change coming to the sector. How do its plans fit into a long-term strategy?
A new report suggests that Australians are ill prepared for the largest intergenerational wealth handover in history. It's estimated $3.5 trillion in assets will be transferred from Baby Boomers to their children by 2050.
Many people in the Firstlinks community have been reading my articles and editorials for 10 years or more, and worked with me for decades before that, and deserve an explanation for why I have suddenly stopped writing each week.
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'.
The ASX 200 is around the same price that it was 16 years ago. The poor long-term performance can be largely blamed on our taxation system, which encourages companies to pay out most of their earnings as dividends.
John Bogle famously advocated a two-fund portfolio of US stocks and bonds. Recently, I tried to create an Australian version of the Bogle portfolio and found that what seems simple can quickly turn complicated.
Money withdrawn from super after age 60 is tax-free but less understood are arrangements that allows a couple over the age of 67 to earn up to $57,948 per year outside super and pay no tax with LITO and SAPTO.