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6 October 2025
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Australian retail investors remain wary of the rising stock market. In fact, they are more defensively positioned than at the height of the Covid crisis, crowding primarily into domestic large cap companies.
The Australian retirement funding system relies on three pillars: the age pension, superannuation and voluntary savings. Most retirees have their wealth tied up in the family home, so what role does it play?
Risk isn’t something to be avoided altogether. To achieve returns beyond the government bond rate, some level of risk must be accepted. Assessing which risks to take and calibrating them is the investor's challenge.
Super is reducing reliance on the age pension for the majority of people entering retirement. Most newly-retired Australians are not accessing the age pension at all, and only 25% of 66-year-olds are drawing a full age pension.
Many SMSF trustees rely heavily on the Top 10 stocks on the ASX for income including franking, but the capital preservation has not been good. The franking debate was a good reminder to reconsider the asset allocation.
Watch the exact timing of super contributions to create a tax deduction, especially this year, and anyone with a pension that reverts to another person on death has particular timing issues to address.
What do many of Australia’s top experts in superannuation and retirement planning think the government should focus its policies on? A long article but with many interesting ideas.
Three weeks to go before the EOFY is still enough time to comply with the rules and make the most of superannuation and income tax opportunities. Here's a quick checklist.
With more people living longer, retirement expectations are being reshaped and redefined. Now is the time to consider the financial and cultural solutions for making the most out of the gift of a longer life.
To avoid retreating from making investment decisions during uncertainty, investors are compelled to rely on 'rules of thumb' to guide them in decision-making. Here are many of the more popular commonly-used rules.
This analysis suggests that Australian investors who lose franking credit refunds under the Labor proposal should significantly increase holdings of global equities to meet an efficient investment frontier.
Rarely do we go into an election with such contrasting policies from the major parties, and no more so than in superannuation. The nation's decision on 18 May will have a big impact on retirement savings.
This AI cycle feels less like a revolution and more like a rerun. Just like fibre in 2000, shale in 2014, and cannabis in 2019, the technology or product is real but the capital cycle will be brutal. Investors beware.
An explosion in low-skilled migration to Australia has depressed wages, killed productivity, and cut rental vacancy rates to near decades-lows. It’s time both sides of politics addressed the issue.
LICs are continuing to struggle with large discounts and frustrated investors are wondering whether it’s worth holding onto them. This explains why the next 6-12 months will be make or break for many LICs.
Australian housing’s 50-year boom was driven by falling rates and rising borrowing power — not rent or yield. With those drivers exhausted, future returns must reconcile with economic fundamentals. Are we ready?
Younger Australians think they’ll need $100k a year in retirement - nearly double what current retirees spend. Expectations are rising fast, but are they realistic or just another case of lifestyle inflation?
This week, I got the news that my mother has dementia. It came shortly after my father received the same diagnosis. This is a meditation on getting old and my regrets in not getting my parents’ affairs in order sooner.