23 December 2024

Recently trending

Vale Graham Hand Australian stocks will crush housing over the next decade, one year on Avoiding wealth transfer pitfalls Taxpayers betrayed by Future Fund debacle Australia’s shameful super gap

Reader: "Great resource. Cuffelinks is STILL the one and only weekly newsletter I regularly read."

Ian Kelly, CFP, BTACS Financial Services: "Probably the best source of commentary and information I have seen over the past 20 years."

Reader: "Keep it up - the independence is refreshing and is demonstrated by the variety of well credentialed commentators."

Reader: "Carry on as you are - well done. The average investor/SMSF trustee needs all the help they can get."

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."

Jonathan Hoyle, CEO, Stanford Brown: "A fabulous publication. The only must-read weekly publication for the Australian wealth management industry."

John Egan, Egan Associates: "My heartiest congratulations. Your panel of contributors is very impressive and keep your readers fully informed."

Andrew Buchan, Partner, HLB Mann Judd: "I have told you a thousand times it's the best newsletter."

David Goldschmidt, Chartered Accountant: "I find this a really excellent newsletter. The best I get. Keep up the good work!"

Don Stammer, leading Australian economist: "Congratulations to all associated. It deserves the good following it has."

Ian Silk, CEO, AustralianSuper: "It has become part of my required reading: quality thinking, and (mercifully) to the point."

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."

Reader: " Finding a truly independent and interesting read has been magical for me. Please keep it up and don't change!"

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: "Is one of very few places an investor can go and not have product rammed down their throat. Love your work!"

John Pearce, Chief Investment Officer, Unisuper: "Out of the (many many) investmentrelated emails I get, Cuffelinks is one that I always open."

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."

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"

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: "The BEST in the game because of diversity and not aligned to financial products. Stands above all the noise."

Reader: "Best innovation I have seen whilst an investor for 25 years. The writers are brilliant. A great publication which I look forward to."

Reader: "It's excellent so please don't pollute the content with boring mainstream financial 'waffle' and adverts for stuff we don't want!"

Rob Henshaw: "When I open my computer each day it's the first link I click - a really great read."

Reader: "An island of professionalism in an ocean of shallow self-interest. Well done!"

Reader: "Congratulations on a great focussed news source. Australia has a dearth of good quality unbiased financial and wealth management news."

Noel Whittaker, author and financial adviser: "A fabulous weekly newsletter that is packed full of independent financial advice."

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."

Home / 440

Most Popular Articles of 2021

Graham Hand
5 January 2022
2

Each week, Firstlinks receives far more articles than we accept. We usually publish seven articles a week, with selections based on relevance of the topic for our audience, quality of the writing and expected popularity.

After almost a decade of publishing, we usually have a decent idea how popular an article will be. Sometimes, we publish an article which is fresh and smart although we know it will not attract high views. It will work well for a minority of readers and so it has a place. It's about the quality not only the metrics.

What distinguished 2021 was the number of articles that unexpectedly went 'viral'. While a typical good quality read on an investment topic might receive 5,000 views on our system, we had eight articles this year over 20,000 hits.

Often, an article hits a chord with a particular group, such as financial advisers, and it is widely circulated to their clients. Other times it is linked by other publications or social media and attracts a bigger audience. It is not easy to predict or cause these events.

The 10 most-read articles follow three themes. Based on our reader surveys, two categories - retirement planning and housing - are understandable given our relatively wealthy, self-directed and 'older' audience. The third is unexpected, the widespread interest in social security issues such as pension eligibility. Are the high views due to a desire to learn about current eligibility, the potential as a future safety net, or something else? Any feedback welcome.

(Click on the article to read it).

	Title	Date	Hits
1	10 little-known pension traps prove the value of advice	15 Dec	48298
2	House prices surge but falls are common and coming	6 Oct	37272
3	10 reasons wealthy homeowners shouldn't receive welfare	15 Sep	33867
4	Check eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card	22 Dec	27046
5	Unexpected results in our retirement income survey	11 Aug	21599
6	The looming excess of housing and why prices will fall	1 Sep	21395
7	Survey responses on pension eligibility for wealthy homeowners	22 Sep	20031
8	Stop treating the family home as a retirement sacred cow	27 Oct	20013
9	Three steps to planning your spending in retirement	7 Jul	19619
10	100 Aussies: five charts on who earns, pays and owns	6 Oct	19079
11	24 hot stocks and funds for 2021	6 Jan	18225
12	Three good comments from the pension asset test article	29 Sep	17550
13	Three all-time best tables for every adviser and investor	18 Aug	16900
14	Importance of remaining rational and why Bitcoin is worthless	4 Aug	16790
15	Invest in Australian value stocks before it is too late	24 Feb	15699
16	Turning point: the 2020s baby boom retirement surge	24 Mar	15128
17	Four simple strategies deliver long-term investing comfort	20 Jan	14813
18	Super changes, the Budget and 2021 versus 2022	12 May	14802
19	Retirement income promise relies on spending capital	28 Jul	14416
20	400th Edition Special: 45 of the best investment ideas	24 Mar	14258
21	Five stocks that have worked well in our portfolios	25 Aug	14017
22	Great new ways the Government helps retirees	20 Jan	14012
23	Finding sustainable dividend stocks on the ASX	30 Jun	13694
24	Grantham interview on the coming day of reckoning	2 Jun	13229
25	Two strong themes and companies that will benefit	20 Oct	13061
26	Five stock recoveries not hanging on COVID predictions	16 Jun	13030
27	Cut it out ... millionaires are not wealthy	20 Jan	12893
28	Hamish Douglass on why the movie hasn’t ended yet	15 Dec	12796
29	The risk-return tradeoff: What’s the right asset mix for a 5% return?	14 Apr	12518
30	How long will my retirement savings last?	7 Apr	12382
31	Noel's share winners and loser plus budget reality check	19 May	12222
32	The hazards of asset allocation in a late-stage major bubble	13 Jan	12079
33	Five timeless lessons from a life in investing	28 Apr	11955
34	$100 billion! Five reasons investors are flocking to ETFs	10 Feb	11902
35	4 key materials for batteries and 9 companies that will benefit	13 Oct	11707
36	Buffett's favourite indicator versus all-in equities	21 Apr	11658
37	Peak to peak, which LIC managers performed during COVID?	16 Jun	11293
38	In fact, most people have no super when they die	14 Apr	11158
39	Best and worst performing equity funds of 2020	13 Jan	11005
40	20 punches: my personal investments are not a forecast	8 Dec	11000
41	Why mega-tech growth are the best ‘value’ stocks in the market	7 Jul	10937
42	Welcome to Firstlinks Edition 433 with weekend update	11 Nov	10821
43	Among key trends in Australian banks, one factor stands out	14 Jul	10808
44	Four bubbly market pockets show heightened risk for investors	10 Mar	10608
45	BHP v Rio v Fortescue: it's all about the iron ore price	2 Jun	10408
46	The sorry saga of housing affordability and ownership	29 Sep	10328
47	Reducing the $5,300 upfront cost of financial advice	20 Oct	10184
48	Why has Australia slipped down the global super ranks?	10 Nov	10162

Many thanks to the hundreds of experts who wrote for us in 2021 and we look forward to publishing the best again in 2022. And thanks to our readers of these and the hundreds of articles published each year.

Graham Hand is Managing Editor of Firstlinks. My thanks to Christian Townsend and James Renton from Master Publisher who provide and support our Content Management System for producing this table and for their quick responses throughout 2021.

The articles should be read in the context of when they were published, and they do not consider the personal circumstances of any investor.

2 Comments

john
January 07, 2022

I would be be interested to know in regard to lifetime income products where only 60 per cent of the sum invested counts for the assets test.
What is the optimum assets test cut-off point $$ point value wise for a couple ??
So that a couple can receive the aged pension and receive a lifetime income stream at the same time
Also is there a graph that would help with this from a full to a part aged pension ??
John

Alex
January 05, 2022

Well done on making it to 10 years, I've been with you since the second or third year.

Most viewed in recent weeks

Vale Graham Hand

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.

Chris Cuffe, James Gruber, Mark LaMonica CFA
19 November 2024

Australian stocks will crush housing over the next decade, one year on

Last year, I wrote an article suggesting returns from ASX stocks would trample those from housing over the next decade. One year later, this is an update on how that forecast is going and what's changed since.

James Gruber
11 December 2024

Avoiding wealth transfer pitfalls

Australia is in the early throes of an intergenerational wealth transfer worth an estimated $3.5 trillion. Here's a case study highlighting some of the challenges with transferring wealth between generations.

Peter Nevill
13 November 2024

Taxpayers betrayed by Future Fund debacle

The Future Fund's original purpose was to meet the unfunded liabilities of Commonwealth defined benefit schemes. These liabilities have ballooned to an estimated $290 billion and taxpayers continue to be treated like fools.

John Abernethy
27 November 2024

Australia’s shameful super gap

ASFA provides a key guide for how much you will need to live on in retirement. Unfortunately it has many deficiencies, and the averages don't tell the full story of the growing gender superannuation gap.

Pascale Helyar-Moray
4 December 2024

Looking beyond banks for dividend income

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.

James Gruber
20 November 2024

Latest Updates

Investment strategies

9 lessons from 2024

Key lessons include expensive stocks can always get more expensive, Bitcoin is our tulip mania, follow the smart money, the young are coming with pitchforks on housing, and the importance of staying invested.

James Gruber
18 December 2024
17

Investment strategies

Time to announce the X-factor for 2024

What is the X-factor - the largely unexpected influence that wasn’t thought about when the year began but came from left field to have powerful effects on investment returns - for 2024? It's time to select the winner.

Don Stammer
18 December 2024
5

Australian shares struggle as 2020s reach halfway point

It’s halfway through the 2020s decade and time to get a scorecheck on the Australian stock market. The picture isn't pretty as Aussie shares are having a below-average decade so far, though history shows that all is not lost.

Ashley Owen
18 December 2024
12

Is FOMO overruling investment basics?

Four years ago, we introduced our 'bubbles' chart to show how the market had become concentrated in one type of stock and one view of the future. This looks at what, if anything, has changed, and what it means for investors.

Eric Marais
18 December 2024
1

Is Medibank Private a bargain?

Regulatory tensions have weighed on Medibank's share price though it's unlikely that the government will step in and prop up private hospitals. This creates an opportunity to invest in Australia’s largest health insurer.

Emma Fisher, Vinay Ranjan
18 December 2024
2

Negative correlations, positive allocations

A nascent theme today is that the inverse correlation between bonds and stocks has returned as inflation and economic growth moderate. This broadens the potential for risk-adjusted returns in multi-asset portfolios.

Emmanuel Sharef, Erin Browne
18 December 2024

Retirement

The secret to a good retirement

An Australian anthropologist studying Japanese seniors has come to a counter-intuitive conclusion to what makes for a great retirement: she suggests the seeds may be found in how we approach our working years.

Shiori Shakuto
18 December 2024
13

Alliances

Site Map

About Firstlinks

Disclaimer
The data, research and opinions provided here are for information purposes; are not an offer to buy or sell a security; and are not warranted to be correct, complete or accurate. Morningstar, its affiliates, and third-party content providers are not responsible for any investment decisions, damages or losses resulting from, or related to, the data and analyses or their use. To the extent any content is general advice, it has been prepared for clients of Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd (ABN: 95 090 665 544, AFSL: 240892), without reference to your financial objectives, situation or needs. For more information refer to our Financial Services Guide. You should consider the advice in light of these matters and if applicable, the relevant Product Disclosure Statement before making any decision to invest. Past performance does not necessarily indicate a financial product’s future performance. To obtain advice tailored to your situation, contact a professional financial adviser. Articles are current as at date of publication.
This website contains information and opinions provided by third parties. Inclusion of this information does not necessarily represent Morningstar’s positions, strategies or opinions and should not be considered an endorsement by Morningstar.

Most Popular Articles of 2021