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9 October 2025
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Bubble awareness, investing in small caps, emerging markets, real client experiences, readers' responses to index versus active article.
Australia may not be facing a stockmarket or property bubble right now, but there are early signs of concern. It's worth knowing what to look for and safeguarding against personal loss.
Small cap companies outperform their large cap peers over the long term and are a great way of adding diversification. But there are hundreds of small companies to choose from, and it's important to find the quality.
Emerging markets, with their explosive growth and vibrant opportunities, can offer great returns if you're comfortable with the inherent risks. What happens as they mature and where are the new markets today?
In the financial and economic world, we use medians and averages to assess our position and make decisions about the future. But as each individual is different, aggregated statistics aren't always useful.
Last week’s article on index versus active portfolio management drew many comments, including on the website, by email and by forwarding other articles to us. Here is a sample.
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.
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.
Retirement can be daunting for Australians facing financial uncertainty. Understand your goals, longevity challenges, inflation impacts, market risks, and components of retirement income with these crucial charts.
Five mega trends point to risks of a more inflation prone and lower growth environment. This, along with rich market valuations, should constrain medium term superannuation returns to around 5% per annum.
Australia's superannuation system faces a 'Rubicon' moment, a turning point where the focus is shifting from accumulation phase to retirement readiness, but unfortunately, many funds are not rising to the challenge.