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6 October 2025
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All Star Edition: Chris Cuffe shares his biggest investment lessons, where house prices are headed, distributing family money, protecting your super, golden rules for SMSFs, and don't pay alpha fees for beta returns.
After a strong run for house prices, changes in bank and regulatory policies will take some steam out of the market. For the longer term good of the market, it may be better to have a pause while fundamental values catch up.
The majority of people who contest a will in court or by mediation succeed in changes being made. Is this unfair or do family members have an entitlement to ‘family money’ at the expense of the deceased’s wishes?
A common concern for superannuants is how changes to the super system will affect their retirement outcomes. In reality, the proposed changes won’t affect the majority, but poor investment choices will.
Irrational and volatile market conditions make investing difficult, especially given the emotions of managing your own money. SMSF investors should keep some basic rules in mind.
Market performance and outperformance can come from many sources, but the main thing to watch for is that you're not paying high 'alpha' fees simply to achieve market 'beta' returns.
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.