Register to receive our free weekly newsletter including editorials.
21 January 2025
Recently trending
Reader: "Keep it up - the independence is refreshing and is demonstrated by the variety of well credentialed commentators."
Rob Henshaw: "When I open my computer each day it's the first link I click - a really great read."
Reader: "Congratulations on a great focussed news source. Australia has a dearth of good quality unbiased financial and wealth management news."
Reader: "Best innovation I have seen whilst an investor for 25 years. The writers are brilliant. A great publication which I look forward to."
Ian Kelly, CFP, BTACS Financial Services: "Probably the best source of commentary and information I have seen over the past 20 years."
Andrew Buchan, Partner, HLB Mann Judd: "I have told you a thousand times it's the best newsletter."
Eleanor Dartnall, AFA Adviser of the Year, 2014: "Our clients love your newsletter. Your articles are avidly read by advisers and they learn a great deal."
Reader: "Great resource. Cuffelinks is STILL the one and only weekly newsletter I regularly read."
Noel Whittaker, author and financial adviser: "A fabulous weekly newsletter that is packed full of independent financial advice."
Reader: "Is one of very few places an investor can go and not have product rammed down their throat. Love your work!"
Reader: "I can quickly sort the items that I am interested in, then research them more fully. It is also a regular reminder that I need to do this."
John Pearce, Chief Investment Officer, Unisuper: "Out of the (many many) investmentrelated emails I get, Cuffelinks is one that I always open."
Steve: "The best that comes into our world each week. This is the only one that is never, ever canned before fully being reviewed by yours truly."
David Goldschmidt, Chartered Accountant: "I find this a really excellent newsletter. The best I get. Keep up the good work!"
Reader: "It's excellent so please don't pollute the content with boring mainstream financial 'waffle' and adverts for stuff we don't want!"
Don Stammer, leading Australian economist: "Congratulations to all associated. It deserves the good following it has."
John Egan, Egan Associates: "My heartiest congratulations. Your panel of contributors is very impressive and keep your readers fully informed."
Reader: "Love it, just keep doing what you are doing. It is the right length too, any longer and it might become a bit overwhelming."
Australian Investors Association: "Australia's foremost independent financial newsletter for professionals and self-directed investors."
Jonathan Hoyle, CEO, Stanford Brown: "A fabulous publication. The only must-read weekly publication for the Australian wealth management industry."
Reader: "Carry on as you are - well done. The average investor/SMSF trustee needs all the help they can get."
Reader: "The BEST in the game because of diversity and not aligned to financial products. Stands above all the noise."
Ian Silk, CEO, AustralianSuper: "It has become part of my required reading: quality thinking, and (mercifully) to the point."
Reader: "An island of professionalism in an ocean of shallow self-interest. Well done!"
Reader: " Finding a truly independent and interesting read has been magical for me. Please keep it up and don't change!"
Professor Robert Deutsch: "This has got to be the best set of articles on economic and financial matters. Always something worthwhile reading in Firstlinks. Thankyou"
Reader: "I subscribe to two newsletters. This is my first read of the week. Thank you. Excellent and please keep up the good work!"
Scott Pape, author of The Barefoot Investor: "I'm an avid reader of Cuffelinks. Thanks for the wonderful resource you have here, it really is first class."
Arguments between segments of the super industry do not foster public confidence. SMSFs are suitable for many who seek control of their own financial destiny, but it's not a competition.
Investors overlook that they are charged more as the market rises. Far more financial services should cost a flat fee, with portfolios dominated by index exposure backed by a few active managers.
Internal emails from the regulator released under an FOI request reveal warnings about advice conflict when selling fees are paid on LICs. Investors need to understand the consequences of the debate.
How can an adviser who is receiving a significant fee for selling a product be in a position to offer good, impartial advice to their client? They can’t, and the industry will slowly accept this.
The overhaul of financial advice practices affects not only advisers but also their clients. Legislative changes are coming by mid next year and too few people are considering them.
Statements by Brian Hartzer, CEO of Westpac, confirm that financial advice delivered by advisers to the mass market is not financially viable, and technology is the solution if most Australians are not to miss out.
In a response to Graham Hand's article on why roboadvice is struggling, the case is made that conventional financial advice will increasingly confine itself to the wealthy, and the mass market needs another solution.
‘Suitability’ of financial advice is something unlikely to be addressed by the Royal Commission, but its adoption and regulation is crucial to the improvement of the wealth management industry.
Many people have changed their minds on whether the Royal Commission was a good idea. What the fact-finding reveals though is an age-old lesson in economics: outcomes gravitate toward incentives.
The characteristic tone of the Royal Commission was set on the first day focus on financial advice, and no witness has been able to defend commissions to advisers and the vertical integration model.
Grandfathering and the implications for commissions has become a major flash point, and the Royal Commission is focussing on problems created when advisers are given the wrong incentives.
Following the Ripoll Inquiry in November 2009, the Labor Government formulated the Future of Financial Advice proposals. A lot has happened since, and the Royal Commission is dealing with the consequences.
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.