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6 October 2025
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Learn to invest early, the unreported costs of doing business, diversifying away from market leaders, the momentum of winners and losers, expectations around advice fees, changes for SMSFs and ATO penalties.
Bernstein's 2014 booklet is a simple recipe for young people starting on an investment journey. It aims to help establish the savings discipline needed to set the millennial generation up for a comfortable retirement.
SMSFs are more heavily exposed to listed Australian equities than are default options in public funds, and particularly to the big S&P/ASX20 stocks. There are good companies in Ex20 segment which can help diversify a portfolio.
In 1993, researchers in the US studied the phenomenon of winning stocks continuing to outperform losing stocks. Using both long and short positions one could theoretically outperform the market on a regular basis.
The recent push for greater transparency on asset management fees has reignited the debate about what is fair and reasonable. Both managers and investors need to reset their expectations to find the common ground.
The activities of any company have an element of environmental and social cost not quantified in the profit and loss statement. In 2010 a global corporation pioneered a new form of reporting, which is gaining support.
It's not just super contribution limits that have changed since 1 July. The ability to provide insurance policies through SMSFs has been redefined and the ATO can now utilitse new administrative penalty powers.
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.