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31 December 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.
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".
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.
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.