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8 October 2026
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Current sharemarket rhyming with post-1973, 32 years of performance data, thinking irrationally and small v large caps.
Who is the greatest market analyst of all time? Towering above all is Mark Twain with his immortal line: “no occurrence is sole and solitary, but is merely a repetition of a thing which has happened before, and perhaps often ...”
Future returns from different asset classes are always uncertain and subject to contrary forecasts, but there are useful lessons from the past. As Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest, "What is past is prologue."
Each day, we respond to problems quickly, automatically and often gullibly, giving undue attention to details that stand out easily. Critical information is often ignored. The best investors are those who can hear through the noise.
There are reasons why small cap stocks have a history of long term outperformance, although recently, the preference for defensive large cap yields has dominated.
This extract from Harvard Business Review looks at how meaningful work for retirees can help avoid the problems that a rapidly rising dependency ratio will cause. In the US, 10,000 baby boomers turn 60 every day.
Conventional wisdom encourages retirees to preserve superannuation. But if those likely to qualify for the Age Pension later in life spend a little more today, it may deliver higher lifetime income and a more stable retirement.
A high-profile dividend cut and a prominent fund manager’s apology have reignited a long-running debate. If investors can access similar exposures more cheaply and efficiently elsewhere, what exactly is keeping LICs alive?
For generations, Australian investors have backed banks, miners and dividends. But has that loyalty come at a cost? A look at the numbers raises an uncomfortable question about where future returns will come from.
The fight over testamentary trusts looked settled. Then the draft legislation arrived. Hidden in a technical detail is a question that could force many families to rethink wills they thought were already future-proof.
Investors have long accepted one portfolio rule without much question. A major tax shift could change that calculation entirely, forcing difficult trade-offs between risk, discipline and an overlooked cost lurking beneath.
What if investment success depends less on picking the right assets and more on understanding the decisions of other investors? A principle borrowed from game theory offers a different perspective on markets.