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4 October 2025
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AUSCOAL's CIO David Bell, super in your will, the rise of peer-to-peer lending, company excuses for poor performance, debt or equity for infrastructure investment and use of the Pension Loans Scheme.
David Bell discusses his new role as Chief Investment Officer at AUSCOAL Super, as well as the many challenges of managing a public superannuation fund portfolio in the current environment.
When writing your will, take care to understand the tax consequences of the benefits paid to your beneficiaries, especially when a life policy is involved. Your estate could be left with a hefty tax bill.
Peer-to-peer lending allows borrowers and lenders to come together via online market places. Although in its infancy compared with overseas, the P2P lending model is now gaining traction in Australia.
It's all too easy for companies to point the finger at external factors to explain poor performance, but when the same excuses are repeated year after year, it's time to look within for the real cause.
Following the previous article on listed versus unlisted infrastructure equity, we look at the different risk and return characteristics of the lesser-known infrastructure debt.
The little-known Pension Loans Scheme allows asset-rich but cash-poor retirees to top up their part-pension income to the full amount via a loan from the government, effectively unlocking the value of their assets.
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.