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25 January 2025
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Montgomery on business before numbers, Stammer on rates lower for longer, Owen on diversification deceit, Vamos on implementation bother and Colley on death benefit pensions.
If you are not happy to own the entire business for a decade, you should not be comfortable owners of even one share for just a few minutes. Time is the friend of the extraordinary business but the enemy of the poor business.
Around the world, real interest rates are now unusually low or even negative. The hunt for real yield that’s become a preoccupation of investors is likely to remain a dominant feature of investment markets for several years at least.
Nobody ever built a great business, or created a great nation, or amassed a great fortune, or became a great painter or musician or sportsperson or anything else, by diversifying. You need to specialise, concentrate and focus.
Implementation is filling minds and devouring resources across the wealth industry. We have so much to implement, in so little time and without a full picture of the regulatory framework that nervousness pervades our lives.
Technical but important - recent amendments allow the income on investments supporting a non-reversionary pension to continue as exempt current pension income after the death of the member.
The housing market was subdued in 2024, and pessimism abounds as we start the new year. 2025 is likely to be a tale of two halves, with interest rate cuts fuelling a resurgence in buyer demand in the second half of the year.
This examines the performance of key asset classes and sub-sectors in 2024 and over longer timeframes, and the lessons that can be drawn for constructing an investment portfolio for the next decade.
The renowned investor has penned his first investor letter for 2025 and it’s a ripper. He runs through what bubbles are, which ones he’s experienced, and whether today’s markets qualify as the third major bubble of this century.
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.
2024 was a banner year for equities, with a run-up in US tech stocks broadening into a global market rally, and the big question now is whether the good times can continue? History suggests optimism is warranted.
Check out the most-read Firstlinks articles from 2024. From '16 ASX stocks to buy and hold forever', to 'The best strategy to build income for life', and 'Where baby boomer wealth will end up', there's something for all.