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20 February 2026
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A study of expert investors reveals how we can all achieve better investment returns.
Anxiety continues to rise about the impact of AI. Doomsday scenarios include the demise of previously thriving industries like software and the widespread loss of white-collar jobs. Is the universal basic wage the answer?
This is my last edition as Editor of Firstlinks. I’m moving onto a new role though the newsletter will remain in good hands until my permanent replacement is found.
A new year and another TV streaming price hike as Kayo lifts my premium plan by 15% to $45 a month. It follows a barrage of price rises from competitors. We’re paying a lot for convenience and choice nowadays.
There’s one surprising area of the market that’s been left behind over the past year: quality stocks. Not only in Australia, but globally. The likes of REA, CAR Group, and Aristocrat may offer opportunities in an overpriced market.
Rio Tinto is proposing a $300 million merger with Glencore soon after BHP tried to nab Anglo American. The commodities boom is heating up but will the mining giants incinerate money like past cycles or is this time different?
Stocks bounced hard off April lows, gold hit record highs and even bonds gained – 2025 was a year where it was hard not to make money. This breaks down the year and how to best position portfolios for 2026 and beyond.
Here are my 20 favourite Firstlinks articles from 2025, including ‘Which generation had it the toughest?’, ‘The case for the $3 million super tax’, and ‘Simple maths says the AI investment boom ends badly’.
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.
What are the best ways to build a simple portfolio from scratch? I’ve addressed this issue before but think it’s worth revisiting given markets and the world have since changed, throwing up new challenges and things to consider.
The renowned investor says 2025’s real story wasn’t AI or US stocks but the shift away from American assets and a collapse in the value of money. And he outlines how to best position portfolios for what’s ahead.
We don’t have a housing shortage; we have housing misallocation. This explores why so many bedrooms go unused, what’s been tried before, and five things to unlock housing capacity – no new building required.
Nearly all the indicators an investor would look for suggest that this secular bull market is approaching its end. My models forecast that the US is set for 0% annual returns over the next decade.
The post-World War Two economic system is unravelling, leading to huge shifts in currency, bond and commodity markets, yet stocks seem oblivious to the chaos. This looks to history as a guide for what’s next.
Our cost-of-living pressures go beyond the RBA: surging house prices, excessive migration, and expanding government programs, including the NDIS, are fuelling inflation, demanding bold, structural solutions.