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21 January 2025
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Inside view from top of CBA, retrospective tax, RCR collapse lessons, conflicted awards for funds, acquisition value, fintechs, advisers and seniors.
The Commonwealth Bank's reputation has taken a battering at the Royal Commission, and a veteran of 13 years on the top table of the Bank's Executive Committee explains what went wrong and where we should head.
Companies always boast the synergies and growth prospects of acquisitions, but dig a little deeper with these questions and you might see why most of these deals fail to add value when finally bedded down.
One person's unjust retrospective policy change is another's overdue and necessary reform. Did people objecting about unfavourable policy retrospectivity complain when they benefitted from a retrospective change?
Large companies supported and promoted by investment managers, brokers, analysts and investment banks have disappeared quickly sometimes. Retail investors should manage equity risk by diversification.
A major publisher has discontinued a high-profile fund manager award due to short termism and the conflict of fund managers contributing to the revenues of the agencies doing the ratings.
Fintechs want to inject themselves between banks and their customers in the most profitable areas. Most will fail but others will chip away and the banks must respond, while the regulators keep a close watch.
Most financial advisers will say they have faced an increased level of scrutiny from clients due to the Royal Commission. The test is how the industry wins back trust.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.