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21 January 2025
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Did anyone tell the Treasurer that if he had replaced the $5 note with a $5 coin, he could have saved $1 billion? The Government makes a profit from minting coins but we still need to decide whose face we want.
We’re in a rare moment in history where the term premium has been negative for a number of years. History suggests that won't last, and here are the best ways to position your portfolio to benefit from the change.
It makes sense to have long-term savings directed to financing long-term investments and short-term savings (which involve liquidity risk for the institutions accepting them) invested in shorter term investments.
Howard Marks updates his views on markets and whether we are in a bubble, but his comments on fund managers in public markets, liquidity premiums in private markets and the role of SPACs were most original.
Structural differences tied into the same asset class can provide divergent performance and investors need to be clear about their objectives when choosing the vehicle through which they take exposure.
Many people would place ‘capturing the illiquidity premium’ on a list of benefits from long-term investing, but achieving additional returns is not as simple as just buying and holding an illiquid asset.
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.