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30 December 2025
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Investors are determined to cling to the idea of a goldilocks scenario for the Australian economy. Meanwhile, company updates paint a picture worse than any we’ve seen post-COVID.
Index fund inflows to the US market are relatively tiny. Yet a new research paper suggests that they have distorted the size of the market's largest stocks to a surprising degree.
US market concentration in large technology companies has captured investor attention. Here explores how this concentration compares to history and what typically follows periods of extreme concentration.
The rise of the Magnificent Seven and their large weighting in US indices has led to debate about concentration risk in markets. Whatever your view, the crowding into these stocks poses several challenges for global investors.
Stocks have had a barnstorming run of late, breaking to new highs in many markets, as they anticipate imminent cuts to interest rates in the US. Can the run continue, and if so, what are the key signposts to look for?
US Presidential elections can be divisive and unsettling, and at times, it can seem like the fate of the world hangs in the balance. But when it comes to investing, do elections really matter all that much?
In his latest memo, Marks outlines how today’s markets are dramatically different from those of the past 40 years, that equity valuations are mildly expensive, and the most compelling opportunities for investors.
Trend-following strategies have been around for a long time though they're still seemingly underappreciated. These strategies can provide diversification benefits and help protect downside risks to portfolios.
News nowadays seems to have become even more negative with constant stories of disasters, conflict, wrongdoing, grievance and loss. These risks can’t be ignored yet the history of investing suggests that pessimism doesn’t pay.
What went up in 2020-21—cryptocurrency, commodities, real estate, and economic growth —has retreated in perfect sequence starting late 2021 and early 2022. Now it is inflation’s turn, though don't tell the Fed that.
Human beings are storytelling animals yet it’s the job of investors to separate truth from fiction. And the truth lies in numbers, the company earnings and the multiples attached to those earnings.
The past three years seem representative of the history of stock returns: two steps forward and one step back. It provides important lessons about how you should prepare your investment portfolio for future market outcomes.
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.