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22 December 2024
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To fly capital city routes such as Sydney-Melbourne, an airline needs landing slots at Sydney Airport. An extraordinary government policy prevented Rex Airlines from getting these slots and set them up to fail.
Australian banks are the Pilbara of the global financial system, with irreplaceable assets that are among the world's best. Current bank hybrid prices offer favourable rewards with limited risk for investors.
The prospect of Australia's superannuation industry becoming larger than the domestic equity market, and expected merger activity among super funds, has raised concerns about common ownership and capital concentration.
All aspects of media and broadcasting are changing, and in television, there are so many new ways to reach viewers that traditional players may be in an unavoidable death spiral.
The attributes of great growth companies are not all contained within the numbers that look at the recent past. Investors need to analyse the industry growth trajectory, the barriers to entry, and the corporate culture.
Despite what the textbooks tell us, a world of more dominant players has not led to higher prices. How does this affect investing?
Australian retail customers typically still pay a hefty fee on FX transactions at the airport or through the banks. Fintech solutions are more competitive, and global banks are also offering multi-currency accounts.
A decline in activity related to household construction, combined with the arrival of foreign retail brands, does not bode well for Australian retailers. And an online behemoth may be an even bigger threat.
Looking at the success and domination of Amazon, Google and Apple makes you wonder if the wealth management industry could experience the same type of market disruption as other industries have.
Telstra’s competitive advantage in regional areas may be under threat after the National Broadband Network is rolled out because wholesale costs are expected to equalise for smaller retail service providers.
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Firstlinks’ co-founder and former Managing Editor, Graham Hand, has died aged 66. Graham was a legendary figure in the finance industry and here are three tributes to him.
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.
Australia is in the early throes of an intergenerational wealth transfer worth an estimated $3.5 trillion. Here's a case study highlighting some of the challenges with transferring wealth between generations.
The Future Fund's original purpose was to meet the unfunded liabilities of Commonwealth defined benefit schemes. These liabilities have ballooned to an estimated $290 billion and taxpayers continue to be treated like fools.
ASFA provides a key guide for how much you will need to live on in retirement. Unfortunately it has many deficiencies, and the averages don't tell the full story of the growing gender superannuation gap.
The Big Four banks have had an extraordinary run and it’s left income investors with a conundrum: to stick with them even though they now offer relatively low dividend yields and limited growth prospects or to look elsewhere.