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22 January 2025
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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.
Collectables and other non-traditional assets often rally late in the cycle. But you should only buy them with a clear purpose and with money you can afford to lose.
Bitcoin has seemingly gone mainstream with approval for the first U.S. ETFs that can directly invest in the cryptocurrency. Should investors incorporate Bitcoin into their portfolios as a strategic part of long-term allocations?
Cryptocurrency advocates are in total denial that their war against fiat currency has ended. FTX’s downfall should prove the final straw as the the world is moving on from crypto mania and it'll be better off for it.
The FTX story has it all: fraud, greed, lust, large financiers and political connections. For Australian investors, it might seem the drama is too surreal to have any relevance, yet we think there are lessons to take away.
A check on price chart action for dozens of favourite tech stocks shows how dramatic the rises and falls have been. Where to from here? There's better value but profits need to remain strong or prices will fall.
Senator Hume describes the crypto ecosystem as a new virtual frontier, and says she will not stand in the way of pioneering Australians chasing the opportunities and benefits presented by innovations in crypto assets.
In decentralised currency markets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the market needs to ensure that everyone agrees on the order of transactions. Cryptocurrency miners help this process and are rewarded with digital coins.
Long gone is the time when investing was only finding traditional value stocks making profits. Now there's Bitcoin, crypto, NFTs, memes, and finfluencers. Among a few winners, much of it will not end well.
Markets don't seem normal, but Magellan is criticised for its caution. Higher interest rates to control inflation could create a recession and some of today's investing will turn out a mass delusion of modern history.
It's a major threat as trauma proliferates because the malware-based crime known as ransomware is reaching menacing proportions. Cracking down on cryptocurrencies might spoil the risk-reward for criminals.
Cryptocurrencies have created the perfect recipe to encourage speculation with the most important ingredient for a bubble to form being something new and shiny to attract investor attention. What's it really worth?
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.
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.