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9 October 2025
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Asian trade links, ASX's mFund service, Howard Marks on oil, bargaining lessons from Medibank, long term investing and aged care costs.
Australia's exports are increasingly skewed towards our three largest trading partners - China, Japan and Korea - making the Free Trade Agreements with these countries vital for further growth.
Many brokers and fund managers have not yet joined the ASX's Managed Fund Settlement Service, mFund. One fund manager explains why they took the leap and their early experiences.
Howard Marks tells a New York conference that there's no way to predict commodity prices, as we cannot know what will happen in the future.
The Medibank sale was carefully handled to ensure not much was left on the table, but that did not prevent a scramble for shares. Both retail investors and institutions were allocated a fraction of their bids.
Part two in the series on long term investing sets out its advantages and the associated strategies available. Long term investing is not easy, but one rather distinct advantage is the prevalence of short term investors.
The final of our series on aged care in Australia covers aged care facilities. More than a third of men and half of women who reach 65 are expected at some point to live in aged care. Understanding the recent reforms is key.
The highlights are a prohibition on borrowing by super funds, change 'general advice' to another name and consider a default super fund tender process. Joe Hockey now faces some big decisions.
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.
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.
Retirement can be daunting for Australians facing financial uncertainty. Understand your goals, longevity challenges, inflation impacts, market risks, and components of retirement income with these crucial charts.
Five mega trends point to risks of a more inflation prone and lower growth environment. This, along with rich market valuations, should constrain medium term superannuation returns to around 5% per annum.
Australia's superannuation system faces a 'Rubicon' moment, a turning point where the focus is shifting from accumulation phase to retirement readiness, but unfortunately, many funds are not rising to the challenge.