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16 September 2025
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Where financial advice went wrong, shares v bonds, retirement products, real estate wins, finance fire drill, active/passive, discount LICs, Buffett.
Financial advisers, especially in vertically-integrated firms, attached a product sale to the advice, confusing clients and setting off a chain reaction where regulators stepped in. The reputation of financial advice was compromised.
For long-term investors who can tolerate short-term volatility, shares will deliver the best outcome including income in retirement. It's cash and term deposits that are the long-term risks.
Non-residential real estate performed strongly in 2017, but much of this return came from cap rate (yield) compression. Going forward, investors will need to focus more on income growth and sector allocation.
Enthusiasm for post-retirement investment products is growing, and the Government has just appointed an advisory group, but there are many reasons why the industry has not yet finalised the best outcomes.
The active v passive debate has deflected attention from a more important issue, a focus on managing to client goals. Plus active management has suffered relative to passive by the central bank-driven uplift of all assets.
The best time to do a financial fire drill is when there is no fire. Planning for a major bear market will help prevent emotional upheaval and panic selling, and advisers have an important role to play with their clients.
Plenty of LICs trade at a discount to their NTA value, often for good reasons, but there are opportunities to benefit from a narrowing of the discount if an investor knows what to look for.
Warren Buffett's latest letter to shareholders gives his definition of 'risk' and makes surprising points about holding bonds versus shares which will delight equity investors and managers.
Platinum’s Kerr Neilson shares his insights into long term investing in global markets, especially the disruptive effects of technology and globalisation. And always with a focus on the price of a stock.
Platinum's Kerr Neilson shares his insights into long term investing in global markets, especially the disruptive effects of technology and globalisation. And always with a focus on the price of a stock.
Each generation believes its economic challenges were uniquely tough - but what does the data say? A closer look reveals a more nuanced, complex story behind the generational hardship debate.
Australia could unlock smarter investment and greater equity by reforming housing tax concessions. Rethinking exemptions on the family home could benefit most Australians, especially renters and owners of modest homes.
This goes through the different options including shares, property and business ownership and declares a winner, as well as outlining the mindset needed to earn enough to never have to work again.
Everyone has a theory as to why housing in Australia is so expensive. There are a lot of different factors at play, from skewed migration patterns to banking trends and housing's status as a national obsession.
The creator of the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals, Bill Bengen, has written a new book outlining fresh strategies to outlive your money, including holding fewer stocks in early retirement before increasing allocations.
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.