Register to receive our free weekly newsletter including editorials.
30 April 2025
Recently trending
Reader: "Best innovation I have seen whilst an investor for 25 years. The writers are brilliant. A great publication which I look forward to."
Ian Silk, CEO, AustralianSuper: "It has become part of my required reading: quality thinking, and (mercifully) to the point."
Andrew Buchan, Partner, HLB Mann Judd: "I have told you a thousand times it's the best newsletter."
Reader: "Keep it up - the independence is refreshing and is demonstrated by the variety of well credentialed commentators."
Steve: "The best that comes into our world each week. This is the only one that is never, ever canned before fully being reviewed by yours truly."
Reader: "I subscribe to two newsletters. This is my first read of the week. Thank you. Excellent and please keep up the good work!"
Reader: "Carry on as you are - well done. The average investor/SMSF trustee needs all the help they can get."
Reader: "Is one of very few places an investor can go and not have product rammed down their throat. Love your work!"
Reader: "The BEST in the game because of diversity and not aligned to financial products. Stands above all the noise."
Reader: " Finding a truly independent and interesting read has been magical for me. Please keep it up and don't change!"
Reader: "Great resource. Cuffelinks is STILL the one and only weekly newsletter I regularly read."
Reader: "Love it, just keep doing what you are doing. It is the right length too, any longer and it might become a bit overwhelming."
Jonathan Hoyle, CEO, Stanford Brown: "A fabulous publication. The only must-read weekly publication for the Australian wealth management industry."
Rob Henshaw: "When I open my computer each day it's the first link I click - a really great read."
Eleanor Dartnall, AFA Adviser of the Year, 2014: "Our clients love your newsletter. Your articles are avidly read by advisers and they learn a great deal."
Professor Robert Deutsch: "This has got to be the best set of articles on economic and financial matters. Always something worthwhile reading in Firstlinks. Thankyou"
John Egan, Egan Associates: "My heartiest congratulations. Your panel of contributors is very impressive and keep your readers fully informed."
Australian Investors Association: "Australia's foremost independent financial newsletter for professionals and self-directed investors."
Reader: "I can quickly sort the items that I am interested in, then research them more fully. It is also a regular reminder that I need to do this."
Reader: "An island of professionalism in an ocean of shallow self-interest. Well done!"
John Pearce, Chief Investment Officer, Unisuper: "Out of the (many many) investmentrelated emails I get, Cuffelinks is one that I always open."
Reader: "Congratulations on a great focussed news source. Australia has a dearth of good quality unbiased financial and wealth management news."
Reader: "It's excellent so please don't pollute the content with boring mainstream financial 'waffle' and adverts for stuff we don't want!"
Scott Pape, author of The Barefoot Investor: "I'm an avid reader of Cuffelinks. Thanks for the wonderful resource you have here, it really is first class."
Don Stammer, leading Australian economist: "Congratulations to all associated. It deserves the good following it has."
Noel Whittaker, author and financial adviser: "A fabulous weekly newsletter that is packed full of independent financial advice."
Ian Kelly, CFP, BTACS Financial Services: "Probably the best source of commentary and information I have seen over the past 20 years."
David Goldschmidt, Chartered Accountant: "I find this a really excellent newsletter. The best I get. Keep up the good work!"
Understanding investment risk in superannuation is crucial for your retirement account. Here's a guide on how to define, take, and manage risk to select the right investment mix tailored to your unique circumstances.
This is probably the most interesting earnings season in my 20-odd-year career, with share prices meaningfully diverging from earnings and prospects. It’s reflected all the greed and fear of investor behaviour.
Ancient Stoic philosophers had an idea called 'premeditatio malorum', that involves considering some of the worst things that can happen to you as a way of immunising yourself against them. It can be a useful tool for investors too.
The rise of trading discounts in closed-ended funds has challenged investors. This latest research suggests that funds that exhibit high volatility or beta tend to trade at larger discounts to their net tangible asset values.
Volatility in interest rate expectations and elevated yields may amplify traditional portfolio risks. Gold has a low correlation to equities and bonds and can help improve the performance of portfolios.
Since the 1970s, whenever positive economic growth and disinflation have joined forces, they've produced good conditions for equities, particularly for companies with pricing power. It bodes well for markets going forward.
Regardless of the strengths of a stock, there are no certainties. Bond rates have risen far higher than most analysts expected and 'bond proxies' have suffered, even property with long leases, quality tenants and tailwinds.
A growing number of Australians are choosing to hedge their international equity exposures. Currency movements are difficult to predict so investors should treat currency hedging as a way to manage risk, not to add return.
While private investments remain a potential source for differentiated equitylike return streams, their structure merits caution for retail investors. These investments can easily turn south without access to high quality teams.
Financial markets have been volatile of late, and it's tempting for investors to seek shelter in cash for some or all of their nest egg. While that may seem a sensible strategy, it can also be a costly one.
ASX small caps have recently underperformed larger companies and liquidity in these companies has vanished. That provides a chance for enterprising investors to buy fast growing yet cheap small and micro cap stocks.
Owning bonds is less risky than owning shares, right? The evidence suggests that while this may be true in the short term, it isn't over longer time horizons, with important implications for asset allocation.
The famed investor says the rapid switch from globalisation to trade wars is the biggest upheaval in the investing environment since World War Two. And a new world requires a different investment approach.
Trump's tariffs and China's retaliatory strike have sent the Nasdaq into a bear market with the S&P 500 not far behind. What are the implications for the economy and markets, and what should investors do now?
Labor has announced a $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries Program, aimed at slashing the cost of home batteries. The goal is to turbocharge battery uptake, though practical difficulties may prevent that happening.
Are you living your life by default or by design? It strikes me that many people are doing the former and living according to others’ expectations of them, leading to poor choices including with their finances.
Larry Fink is one of the smartest people in the finance industry. In his latest shareholder letter, the Blackrock CEO outlines his quest to become the biggest player in private assets and upend investor portfolios.
Every crisis throws up opportunities. Here are ideas to capitalise on this one, including ‘overbalancing’ your portfolio in stocks, buying heavily discounted LICs, and cherry picking bombed out sectors like oil and gas.