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22 January 2025
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Learn to invest early, the unreported costs of doing business, diversifying away from market leaders, the momentum of winners and losers, expectations around advice fees, changes for SMSFs and ATO penalties.
Bernstein's 2014 booklet is a simple recipe for young people starting on an investment journey. It aims to help establish the savings discipline needed to set the millennial generation up for a comfortable retirement.
SMSFs are more heavily exposed to listed Australian equities than are default options in public funds, and particularly to the big S&P/ASX20 stocks. There are good companies in Ex20 segment which can help diversify a portfolio.
In 1993, researchers in the US studied the phenomenon of winning stocks continuing to outperform losing stocks. Using both long and short positions one could theoretically outperform the market on a regular basis.
The recent push for greater transparency on asset management fees has reignited the debate about what is fair and reasonable. Both managers and investors need to reset their expectations to find the common ground.
The activities of any company have an element of environmental and social cost not quantified in the profit and loss statement. In 2010 a global corporation pioneered a new form of reporting, which is gaining support.
It's not just super contribution limits that have changed since 1 July. The ability to provide insurance policies through SMSFs has been redefined and the ATO can now utilitse new administrative penalty powers.
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.