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19 September 2025
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Asset pricing remains buoyant and equity markets continue to chase financial assets over real ones. As the gap between ‘growth’ stocks and the rest widens further, investors need to decide which side to jump.
The cost of living crisis has made spending control front-of-mind for many people. New research shows that paying by cash rather than card, even if inconvenient, can be a valuable tool in controlling expenses.
Shoppers are cutting back spending at supermarkets, gyms, and bakeries to cope with soaring insurance and education costs as household spending continues to slump. Renters especially are feeling the pinch.
Amid the blur of company results, it's vital to step back and check the major factors affecting results: inflation, consumer spending and cashflow. What are the companies emphasising in their one-on-one meetings?
When the pandemic hit, consumers switched their buying to goods as they could not get out to consume services. Now, habits are normalising, with implications for travel, hotels, sporting goods and 'experiences'.
Heavy consumer spending, rising commodity prices and government deficits point to rising inflation. Given the risk in long-term fixed rate exposure, where else can bond exposure help generate income?
A high level of spending capacity is left in consumers which will support consumer-related stocks for a longer period than is factored into current share prices. Savers have lots of money sitting in the bank.
With a pandemic, a recession and high unemployment, there's every reason to expect residential property and retail sales to be collapsing. But data shows both are resilient, so what is happening?
Current economic policy is failing to revive the corporate sector's animal spirits, as spending by consumers remains weak except for a few sectors like food, cafes and restaurants.
Australia could unlock smarter investment and greater equity by reforming housing tax concessions. Rethinking exemptions on the family home could benefit most Australians, especially renters and owners of modest homes.
The creator of the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals, Bill Bengen, has written a new book outlining fresh strategies to outlive your money, including holding fewer stocks in early retirement before increasing allocations.
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.
Are franking credits factored into share prices? The data suggests they're probably not, and there are certain types of stocks that offer higher franking credits as well as the prospect for higher returns.
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.