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21 January 2025
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For decades, it's been thought that investors focus more on limiting losses than making gains. New research suggests that as we age, the reverse may be true, which has significant implications for the investment industry.
While the gender pay gap is slowly improving in the workplace, ATO data shows Australian men aged 55-59 average $50,000 more in super than women of the same age. Financial advisers have a role to play.
While good financial health is desirable, it’s often an imprecise concept. A simple universal framework comprising five indicators with benchmarks enables an objective assessment of personal financial health.
Women comprise less than one-fifth of all active online investors in Australia and while the gap is closing, the financial services sector has more work ahead to empower women from all walks of life.
We often focus on the implications for financial security of being unable to save enough for a comfortable retirement, but mental wellbeing is as important. Financial advice can help.
Our sincere thanks for the amazing personal stories of how wealth was built by hard work or where some were not as fortunate. Another 600 readers have taken part in the survey since the last update.
While every generation has its unique opportunities, the majority of Firstlinks readers agree that Boomers have had a better run than others. But the real highlights here are in the comments.
Most parents are worried about the financial future of their children. Three tips for helping with education and housing needs: start now, share your knowledge and invest in growth assets.
Knowing what investors want should be fundamental to conversations with financial planners and advisers, and it's not mainly about maximising returns. Set the right planning parameters.
Serious illness is something we think will happen to somebody else and insurance, like making a will, is easy to put off. It’s only when the problems start that we realise it’s too late to do anything about it.
Important changes to aged care costs come into effect on 1 July 2014. They highlight the importance of having the financial flexibility to make the system work in your favour.
In the financial and economic world, we use medians and averages to assess our position and make decisions about the future. But as each individual is different, aggregated statistics aren't always useful.
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.
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.