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19 July 2025
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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.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers aims to tackle tax reform but faces challenges. Previous reviews struggled due to political sensitivities, highlighting the need for comprehensive and politically feasible change.
You've no doubt heard about Division 296. These case studies show what people at various levels above the $3 million threshold might need to pay the ATO, with examples ranging from under $500 to more than $35,000.
The $3m super tax could be put down to the Government needing money and the wealthy being easy targets. It’s deeper than that though and this looks at the factors behind the policy and why more taxes on the wealthy are coming.
Business investment and per capita GDP have languished over the past decade and the Labor Government is conducting inquiries to find out why. Franking credits should be part of the debate about our stalling economy.
With Div. 296 looming, is there a smarter way to tax superannuation? This proposes a fairer, income-linked alternative that respects compounding, ensures predictability, and avoids taxing unrealised capital gains.
In selling the super tax, Labor has repeated Treasury claims of there being $50 billion in super tax concessions annually, mostly flowing to high-income earners. This figure is vastly overstated.