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30 December 2025

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Edition: 501

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Welcome to Firstlinks Edition 501 with weekend update

  • 23 March 2023
  • 14

Over years working in global capital markets, I transacted billions of dollars of bond issues with Credit Suisse, Swiss Bank Corp and UBS, even working for one of them in Switzerland for six months. They competed furiously for transactions. I never expected these three banks would be crunched together by Swiss regulators to save their businesses.

Four all-time best charts for every adviser and investor

If the lessons from 30 years of investing could be distilled into one statement, it would be this: the short term is unknowable, but the long term is inevitable. These four best charts demonstrate why.

A banking crisis is here, the credit crunch may be next

Usually, credit crunches come before banking crises, but this time it might happen the other way around. Here are the likely paths forward, what things that investors should monitor and the best places to hide.

Don't panic, this isn't 2008

This banking crisis in the US and Europe is very different to the one which caused the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. If right, it provides an opportunity to find undervalued stocks unfairly pulled down with the bank carnage.

Four experts clarify super tax and franking misconceptions

Critical facts are overlooked on the new super tax and franking. The super tax is a progressive tax not a flat tax, we have many ways of taxing 'income', concessions are overstated and franking has a common value.

Retiring young: Is 50 really the new 65?

There are opportunities for savvy individuals to retire before their peers. Factors like longevity risk – and other variables like inflation and interest rate fluctuations – will always exist, but these things can be mitigated.

The 100-year-old Australian investment company you’ve never heard of

It’s one of Australia’s oldest listed investment companies, yet few investors have heard of it. While LICs like Australian Foundation Investment Company and Argo Investments grab the limelight, Whitefield prefers low key.

Three themes and companies to play China's rise

The structural drivers for China's rise remain intact. Companies there will benefit from rising incomes, increasing demand for premium goods and services, and burgeoning sophistication in technology and manufacturing.

A helping hand for Treasurer Chalmers’ proposed taxonomy

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he will “create a new sustainable finance architecture, including a new taxonomy to label the climate impact of different investments." Here are some tongue-in-cheek suggestions to help him.

Some Reader Survey results, and time to respond

Thank you for the hundreds of responses to our Reader Survey and to give as big a sample as possible, we are leaving it open for a few more days. Here is a sample of the results so far.

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Why it’s time to ditch the retirement journey

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".

Australia's retirement system works brilliantly for some - but not all

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. 

Australian stocks will crush housing over the next decade, 2025 edition

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.

The 3 biggest residential property myths

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.

AFIC on the speculative ASX boom, opportunities, and LIC discounts

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.

Where to hide in the ‘everything bubble’

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.

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