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22 December 2024
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Stock buybacks improve earnings per share, making it look like better company performance. In the US, if buybacks stop for any reason, both management and investors alike will have to shift earnings per share expectations downwards.
Marketplace or peer-to-peer lending is well established overseas and growing rapidly in Australia, but investors should understand the risks and the returns, as described in the first part of this debate.
The rise in bond rates in the US in 2018 has tilted investment opportunities away from the easy choice of collecting higher dividends on shares, and now, greater prudence is required.
Among the focus on tech stocks and healthcare sectors, the quality in consumer staples stocks tends to be overlooked, but these are the companies we continue to buy from in all economic circumstances.
Many active managers are closet indexers. The real cost of forcing a skilled manager into a low tracking error is the limit to the upside.
A better approach to sustainable investing is to actively select for better ESG scores and identify companies with a positive impact. Fund managers have an important advocacy role.
Bond investing is not only buy and hold and traditional return sources such as income, changing yields and duration. Relative value identifies market inefficiencies and uses risk management techniques in all market conditions.
The movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, not only took a journey into the future, it glimpsed many technologies that are now with us. It’s time to look ahead to future asset allocations.
The bank bill/OIS swap rate may seen arcane but if it stays at current elevated levels, it may increase rates for borrowers in the same way as an increase in cash rates by the Reserve Bank.
Many investors in global portfolios overlook the currency exposure and should consider leaving hedging decisions to specialists. There is no single optimal hedging strategy as conditions vary over time.
Investors shouldn't automatically assume the inclusion of bonds in a portfolio provides diversity against their equity exposure, as correlations can change in volatile markets.
Home cooking and value investing have much in common. While it takes more time and effort to carefully assemble the right ingredients, the results can pay off over the long run.
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.