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7 December 2025
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How imputation really works, Hamish Douglass on high risk, guns in banks, manager attribution, new thinking on retirement, bond defaults, inside SMSFs.
Every day, an expert writes somewhere about the adverse impact of a reduction in franking credits due to a lower company tax rate. This tax rate has no impact on the after-tax returns received by Australian shareholders.
Global stock markets could face the most volatile period since 2008-09. The danger is that US fiscal stimulus could fan inflation and lead to higher-than-expected interest rates. Risks are asymmetric to the downside.
It’s worth deciphering how active 'active managers' are, whether their outperformance is sustainable, whether they cancel each other out and whether they are true to label. Know what you're paying for.
In retirement, it is the level of spending rather than investment returns which is the primary determinant of retirement outcomes, and there is a significant difference in spending patterns in later years.
Pension SMSFs will soon equal the number in accumulation, and the latest SMSF investment surveys reveal that changes in the 2016 Federal budget had a strong impact on investment patterns and flows.
Many retail investors have turned to unrated or high-yield corporate bonds in recent years, but conditions have been favourable. Watch for the once-a-decade spikes in default rates.
In the 1970s, bank branches had pistols in the teller drawers and cupboards, but behind the accidents and hilarious stories lies a grim truth that is a warning to Trump's crazy idea to arm teachers.
More Australians are retiring with larger mortgages and less super. This paper explores how unlocking housing wealth can help ease the nation’s growing retirement cashflow crunch.
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 investor sentiment shifting and ETFs surging ahead, we pit Australia’s biggest LICs against their ETF rivals to see which delivers better returns over the short and long term. The results are revealing.
Thoughtful tax planning is a cornerstone of successful investing. This highlights 13 legal ways that you can reduce tax, preserve capital, and enhance long-term wealth across super, property, and shares.
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".
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.