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5 January 2026
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APRA focus on CBA, a Royal flush on advice, perverse outcomes, manager selection, SPIVA lessons, why dividends matter, currency, earnings, El Camino.
The Royal Commission will change financial advice, focussing more directly on conflicts of interest and client best interests. What can you flush out of your adviser immediately?
Many people have changed their minds on whether the Royal Commission was a good idea. What the fact-finding reveals though is an age-old lesson in economics: outcomes gravitate toward incentives.
S&P's SPIVA (index versus active) data now spans 15 years of data on the performance of Australian managed funds. This study illuminates returns from sectors and styles, and investment lessons learned from it.
Financial advisers spend an inordinate amount of time selecting fund managers for their clients, but is the impact/effort matrix worth it. It's hard enough for good managers to even beat the index.
Dividend streams tend to be stable and determined by fundamental factors. Unlike capital valuations, which are affected by estimates of prospective returns which are, in turn, strongly affected by market sentiment.
Australian investors with foreign currency assets must consider whether to hedge the currency exposure, but the overall context of their portfolio is relevant or losses could be magnified.
Earnings downgrades are not always bad news. They may present buy-side opportunities if the stock is oversold. It's best to assess the circumstances via a checklist without panicking.
After decades of intense work in financial markets, including Asia-wide responsibilities, a sabbatical walk along Spain's Camino led to an unexpected mix of superannuation insights and dealing with death.
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.
Two years ago, I wrote an article suggesting that the odds favoured ASX shares easily outperforming residential property over the next decade. Here’s an update on where things stand today.
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.
In an interview with Firstlinks, CEO Mark Freeman discusses how speculative ASX stocks have crushed blue chips this year, companies he likes now, and why he’s confident AFIC’s NTA discount will close.
At this time last year, I forecast that 2025 would likely be a positive year given strong economic prospects and disinflation. The outlook for this year is less clear cut and here is what investors should do.
It might not be quite an ‘everything bubble’ but there’s froth in many assets, not just US stocks, right now. It might be time to stress test your portfolio and consider assets that could offer you shelter if trouble is coming.