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16 January 2025
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Learn from last month's market activity, disruptive times for super, FoFA to date and Best Interest Duty, the 1 in 100 year event, and the use of currency hedges.
October 2014 could be filed away as another month of reasonably normal returns. However if you lived through it day-to-day, there were lots of events and volatility, including somewhat of a ‘mini-panic’.
It could be said that the super system is always facing disruption. As the system grows it will be constantly reviewed, scrutinised and changed, and industry participants should work together for the collective good.
Government plans to amend FoFA are in tatters, due mainly to ill-informed comments about the nature of financial advice. 'Best interests duty' goes way beyond 'duty of care' used in other professions.
How many times do we hear that a ‘1 in 100 year’ event has occurred? Weather and financial market events in particular seem to have occurred far more than once in the last 100 years.
With recent volatility in the value of the Australian dollar, investor attention is drawn to the topic of currency hedging. What impact does currency have on an international equity portfolio for an Australian investor?
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.
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.
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.