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22 January 2025
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Election set, Phil King on longs and shorts, dividend sustainability, legal cases hit SMSF trustees and auditors, infrastructure, private equity.
It's as legitimate an investing technique to short sell an expensive company as it is to buy or go long a cheap company, with the added advantage of less competition on the short side.
Check the cash flow characteristics and sustainability in any company before investing, as various ratios can be an early sign that the business is churning through rather than generating cash.
Two court cases have laid the blame for poor SMSF documentation and investments at the feet of auditors. It's not a 'tick and flick' exercise and there are lessons for SMSF trustees and professionals.
A recent case highlights the importance of SMSF trustees exercising discretion to pay death benefits in good faith, with real and genuine consideration and in accordance with the purpose of the conferred power.
Both the Government and Labor have made impressive commitments to infrastructure, but it focusses heavily on roads and rail. Australia's economic potential depends on more essential services.
The finding of the Report is that Labor's franking credit policy is inequitable and flawed, but many say the inquiry was politically-motivated, as the Labor members of the committee deliver a dissenting report.
Most individual investors have difficulty accessing private equity directly, but unlisted and listed funds are opening this diversifying asset class to a wider range of investors.
The days of company boards making decisions in isolation from their shareholders have long gone, and investor expectations are rising across many cultural and social issues.
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.
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.
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.