Register to receive our free weekly newsletter including editorials.
18 December 2025
Recently trending
Reader: "Is one of very few places an investor can go and not have product rammed down their throat. Love your work!"
Reader: "Love it, just keep doing what you are doing. It is the right length too, any longer and it might become a bit overwhelming."
Reader: "It's excellent so please don't pollute the content with boring mainstream financial 'waffle' and adverts for stuff we don't want!"
Ian Kelly, CFP, BTACS Financial Services: "Probably the best source of commentary and information I have seen over the past 20 years."
Ian Silk, CEO, AustralianSuper: "It has become part of my required reading: quality thinking, and (mercifully) to the point."
Reader: "I can quickly sort the items that I am interested in, then research them more fully. It is also a regular reminder that I need to do this."
John Egan, Egan Associates: "My heartiest congratulations. Your panel of contributors is very impressive and keep your readers fully informed."
Reader: "Congratulations on a great focussed news source. Australia has a dearth of good quality unbiased financial and wealth management news."
Jonathan Hoyle, CEO, Stanford Brown: "A fabulous publication. The only must-read weekly publication for the Australian wealth management industry."
Don Stammer, leading Australian economist: "Congratulations to all associated. It deserves the good following it has."
Rob Henshaw: "When I open my computer each day it's the first link I click - a really great read."
Eleanor Dartnall, AFA Adviser of the Year, 2014: "Our clients love your newsletter. Your articles are avidly read by advisers and they learn a great deal."
Reader: "I subscribe to two newsletters. This is my first read of the week. Thank you. Excellent and please keep up the good work!"
David Goldschmidt, Chartered Accountant: "I find this a really excellent newsletter. The best I get. Keep up the good work!"
Professor Robert Deutsch: "This has got to be the best set of articles on economic and financial matters. Always something worthwhile reading in Firstlinks. Thankyou"
Reader: " Finding a truly independent and interesting read has been magical for me. Please keep it up and don't change!"
Reader: "Carry on as you are - well done. The average investor/SMSF trustee needs all the help they can get."
Andrew Buchan, Partner, HLB Mann Judd: "I have told you a thousand times it's the best newsletter."
Noel Whittaker, author and financial adviser: "A fabulous weekly newsletter that is packed full of independent financial advice."
Reader: "Keep it up - the independence is refreshing and is demonstrated by the variety of well credentialed commentators."
Reader: "Great resource. Cuffelinks is STILL the one and only weekly newsletter I regularly read."
Scott Pape, author of The Barefoot Investor: "I'm an avid reader of Cuffelinks. Thanks for the wonderful resource you have here, it really is first class."
John Pearce, Chief Investment Officer, Unisuper: "Out of the (many many) investmentrelated emails I get, Cuffelinks is one that I always open."
Steve: "The best that comes into our world each week. This is the only one that is never, ever canned before fully being reviewed by yours truly."
Reader: "The BEST in the game because of diversity and not aligned to financial products. Stands above all the noise."
Reader: "An island of professionalism in an ocean of shallow self-interest. Well done!"
Reader: "Best innovation I have seen whilst an investor for 25 years. The writers are brilliant. A great publication which I look forward to."
It’s the season for 2026 market forecasts. Predicting the short term is tough though, and it’s often best to look at long-term data to guide your investment decisions. A new report can help with that.
My 13 biggest lessons from 2025 including dinosaurs die, good companies don’t necessarily make good investments, Baby Boomers are driving the economy, don't fight interest rates, and history is rhyming in real time.
Does money buy freedom? Many people dream of having enough wealth to do what they want when they want. It may not be as simple as that though, and this looks at what money can and cannot buy.
Thank you for the hundreds of responses to our Reader Survey and to maximise the sample size, we’re leaving it open until this Sunday. Here is an overview of the results so far.
Dementia has now overtaken heart disease as Australia’s leading cause of death. An ageing population plays a role, but stronger public education is needed to help prevent new cases.
What should you do if you think this market is grossly overvalued? While it’s impossible to predict the future, it is possible to prepare, and here are three tips on how to best construct your portfolio for what’s ahead.
A new academic study shows that almost all Australians agree that there is a housing crisis yet we can’t agree on how to fix it and are sharply divided along generational and ideological lines.
Governments around the world keep recklessly spending, and investors can benefit. Defence, software, infrastructure and land lease communities are among the sectors poised to ride this long-term secular trend.
Which companies have been the best performers on the ASX over the past 20 years, and what characteristics made them special? A new report looks at the keys to their success, and the lessons for investors going forward.
As the gold price heads to the stratosphere and people line up to buy the yellow metal, I recount my journey of owning gold for 17 years, what I’ve learned along the way, and what I’m doing now with my holdings.
Markets are starting to feel like 1999 and a blowoff top isn’t out of the question. There are differences to back then though, with gold at record highs, rates easing, and AI producing extraordinary winners but also ‘quiet’ losers.
A new report suggests the Division 296 tax will raise far more tax than original Treasury estimates. It’s partly due to the ballooning size of SMSFs over the past two years.
I’ve long seen Buffett as a flawed genius: a great investor though a man with shortcomings. With his final letter to Berkshire shareholders, I reflect on how my views of Buffett have changed and the legacy he leaves.
With rates on hold and housing demand strong, lenders are pushing boundaries. As risky products return, borrowers should be cautious and not let clever marketing cloud their judgment.
Retirement isn’t a clean financial arc. Income shocks, health costs and family pressures hit at random, exposing the limits of age-based planning and the myth of a predictable “retirement journey".
The superannuation system has succeeded brilliantly at what it was designed to do: accumulate wealth during working lives. The next challenge is meeting members’ diverse needs in retirement.
I am a professional real estate investor who hears a lot of opinions rather than facts from so-called experts on the topic of property. Here are the largest myths when it comes to Australia’s biggest asset class.