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18 October 2025
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APRA has released a plan to phase out bank hybrid securities and replace them with capital it regards as cheaper and safer. The transition will impact hybrid markets, funding spreads, and investor strategies.
Financial literacy equips women with the knowledge and confidence to build wealth and achieve long-term financial goals. By rethinking traditional approaches, we can find new ways to close the gender gap on this issue.
Although investors should not aim only to minimise costs, fees eat into compounded returns over the long term. Markets are competitive and it is possible to invest a diversified portfolio for negligible cost.
Buy-Write funds sell options to generate extra income but it means they may give away some of the upside potential. During periods of market weakness and a need for more income, is the time right for this strategy?
In designing rules to protect investors, ASIC prevents reinvestment in products some people have held for years, even when investors qualify as 'wholesale'. How can ASIC change the rules to correct the imbalance?
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he will “create a new sustainable finance architecture, including a new taxonomy to label the climate impact of different investments." Here are some tongue-in-cheek suggestions to help him.
ETFs gain the headlines as issuers are skilled at promoting their growth and new funds. Yet ETFs are tiny compared with managed funds, which advisers prefer on platforms. Which will be the long-term winner?
A Contract for Difference (CFD) is a highly-leveraged investment used for speculative and gambling activities by retail investors without the knowledge to take such risks. ASIC is struggling to control the product.
Complex products beyond the purview of ASIC are being offered to retail investors based on tax and return advantages beyond the ability of investors to assess, making them manifestly unsuitable.
Investment styles go in and out of fashion and can explain why some fund managers spend long periods under- or out-performing an overall index. But what are these major styles?
Many people have changed their minds on whether the Royal Commission was a good idea. What the fact-finding reveals though is an age-old lesson in economics: outcomes gravitate toward incentives.
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?
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.
With rising home prices and falling affordability, political leaders preach reform. But asset disclosures show many are heavily invested in property - raising doubts about whose interests housing policy really protects.
Whether for yourself or a family member, it’s never too early to start thinking about aged care. This looks at the best ways to plan ahead, as well as the changes coming to aged care from November 1 this year.