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28 December 2025
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Learn from last month's market activity, disruptive times for super, FoFA to date and Best Interest Duty, the 1 in 100 year event, and the use of currency hedges.
October 2014 could be filed away as another month of reasonably normal returns. However if you lived through it day-to-day, there were lots of events and volatility, including somewhat of a ‘mini-panic’.
It could be said that the super system is always facing disruption. As the system grows it will be constantly reviewed, scrutinised and changed, and industry participants should work together for the collective good.
Government plans to amend FoFA are in tatters, due mainly to ill-informed comments about the nature of financial advice. 'Best interests duty' goes way beyond 'duty of care' used in other professions.
How many times do we hear that a ‘1 in 100 year’ event has occurred? Weather and financial market events in particular seem to have occurred far more than once in the last 100 years.
With recent volatility in the value of the Australian dollar, investor attention is drawn to the topic of currency hedging. What impact does currency have on an international equity portfolio for an Australian investor?
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.