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21 November 2024
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While gold can create divisive views - Buffett called it a valueless pet rock - this assesses its place in portfolios from a supply-demand standpoint and versus currencies. Both angles suggest some exposure to gold is prudent.
In an era where growth companies dominate and the likes of Nvidia grab all of the attention, dividend paying stocks are flying under the radar. Some of these stocks offer compelling prospective returns.
Thanks to the 'Magnificent Seven' stocks, global passive investors thrashed most active peers in 2023. But there's a hitch: these investors' portfolios are now concentrated in the most overvalued segment of the market.
Investors are overexposed to recent winners, namely large cap, growth stocks. As a whole, these stocks are exceptionally expensive, which means investors may need to switch strategies to outperform going forward.
Every fund is measured against a benchmark, but active managers earn their fees by taking strong views contrary to an index. It requires fortitude in the short term as interviews with Orbis and Allan Gray show.
Contrarian investing is not about doing the opposite to everyone else no matter what, it’s having courage in your convictions in a disciplined investment process. Here are examples of contrarian investing in practice.
The Big Four banks have had an extraordinary run and it’s left income investors with a conundrum: to stick with them even though they now offer relatively low dividend yields and limited growth prospects or to look elsewhere.
A triple headwind has seen Australia's biggest LIC swing to a 10% discount and scuppered its relative performance. Management was bullish in an interview with Firstlinks, but is the discount ever likely to close?
Most Australians don’t realise they are being charged up to six different types of fees on their superannuation. These fees can be opaque and hard to compare across different funds and investment options.
Economic growth in Australia looks to have bottomed, which means it makes sense to selectively add to cyclical exposures on the ASX in addition to key thematics like decarbonisation and technological change.
Understanding the property cycle can be a useful tool to make informed decisions and stay focused on long-term goals. This looks at where we are in the commercial property cycle and the potential opportunities for investors.
The concept of an 'equity risk premium' has driven asset allocation decisions for decades. A revamped study suggests it was a relatively short-lived phenomenon rather than the mainstay many thought.
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Firstlinks’ co-founder and former Managing Editor, Graham Hand, has died aged 66. Graham was a legendary figure in the finance industry and here are three tributes to him.