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21 December 2024
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The market share for Exchange Traded Funds and index trackers may increase past optimal levels and stay there for many years. There seems very little if anything that active managers can do to reverse that.
The complexion of a stock market is ever-changing, with companies coming and going. But what happens to indexes, and the ETFs that use them as benchmarks, when a company is removed because of a merger or acquisition?
The structure of many dividend ETFs leads to lacklustre or non-existent dividend growth. Balancing high yields with long-term dividend growth is essential for effective income investing.
The rise of trading discounts in closed-ended funds has challenged investors. This latest research suggests that funds that exhibit high volatility or beta tend to trade at larger discounts to their net tangible asset values.
There are signs that passive investing is struggling to keep up in a world that's rapidly passing it by. To understand why, we need to talk about how private equity has revolutionised the investment landscape.
Small companies have been getting a lot of attention lately, as the equities rally this year extends beyond mega caps. Here is a look at the opportunities for Australian investors in this new environment.
We're nearing the financial year-end and it's a good time to think about your tax strategies. Here are two tax advantages to having ETF investments, plus a bonus perk if you’re in a fund hedged to the Aussie dollar.
Since the rise of ETFs, there has been a focus on fees. Yet, investors should also understand the different indices that funds are benchmarked against and the ETF managers because these too can impact investment outcomes.
Famed investor David Einhorn says passive investing has broken markets and it's forced him to change his investment style to stay in business. How has passive investing transformed markets, and what happens next?
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?
Is it worth venturing beyond cash and term deposits for steady income? This looks at the pros and cons of assets - including stocks, bonds, and hybrids - in providing yield and how they stack up against cash.
John Bogle famously advocated a two-fund portfolio of US stocks and bonds. Recently, I tried to create an Australian version of the Bogle portfolio and found that what seems simple can quickly turn complicated.
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.