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6 October 2025
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Regardless of how a fund manager is performing, it's vital to have the confidence in a long-term set of rules that have stood the test of time through many markets, including recognising SRI principles.
Low interest rates have created problems for retirees, leading to the threat of a reduced lifestyle quality, running out of cash or accepting the age pension. Taking high risks at this point may make things worse.
Exogenous factors like macro changes and weather can affect a company’s short-term profits. Management often blames uncontrollable factors for earnings downgrades but rarely owns up to a fortuitous tailwind.
As pensioners and advisers adapt to the asset test changes, they should not place a different value on a dollar of income and a dollar of accumulated capital to support a retiree's lifestyle.
There is much disagreement over the 'safe' withdrawal rate in retirement to ensure savings do not run out. Unfortunately, drawing only 2.5% from a nestegg will leave many retirees living a life on unnecessary austerity.
The method chosen to determine the amount of pension payments from superannuation should influence the allocation towards the volatility of growth or income-based 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.