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4 October 2025
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World Cup smart chat, CBA demerger, hybrid value, talk to your family, next for ASIC, super rorts, SAA journey, investing checks, podcast on GFC.
There's a fundamental difference between banking and wealth management: bankers have no fiduciary obligation to their clients. It's difficult for bankers to own fund managers and financial advice and fully accept the difference.
It's the world game that billions are watching, and it only takes a few simple observations during a game to impress. It's equally easy to show you don't have a clue what's really happening.
While property and equity markets remain expensive by historical standards, yields achievable relative to risk remain strong in the hybrid market, notwithstanding recent upticks in price.
Retirees should discuss goals and plans with their adult children, including wills, finances, consequences of incapacitation and current plans. Includes a suggested 'Goals and Plans' document to kick off the conversation.
Going through ASIC’s pronouncements and corporate plans can help gauge whether a business is at risk. Big and small AFS licensees such as non-bank planners, accountants, and life advisers will be increasingly scrutinised soon.
A bill that allows the ATO to merge dormant super accounts with active ones and release super members from compulsory life insurance embedded in enterprise agreements and from exit fees was tabled on 21 June 2018.
The movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, not only took a journey into the future, it glimpsed many technologies that are now with us. It’s time to look ahead to future asset allocations.
Starting early and contributing regularly to an investment plan is the best way to meet a long-term goal. Choosing your risk profile, time horizon and structure is equally important.
The 2008 GFC actually started a year earlier in the global credit markets, but the equity markets ignored the warning signs. With hindsight, everyone had the chance to exit shares at elevated prices.
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.