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25 January 2025
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Investors are exposed to so much information that it’s often hard to filter the good from the bad. This looks at how to tell the difference between the two and the best sources of investment writing and advice.
Opening the market for advice makes sense but the QAR is weak on consumer safeguards. Financial advice legislation should be tailored to the risk of harm for consumers, identifying complicated, risky strategies.
Categorising post-retirement needs – living, lifestyle, legacy and contingency – creates a framework for retirees. Advisers can translate these needs into investment goals and portfolios.
The Treasurer has announced a public consultation into whether advisers can accept selling fees on LITs and LICs to address potential conflicts and compliance with best interests duties.
Favourite quotations from famous people on markets, investing, processes, noise, pessimism, self perception and life balance. These lessons carry across investment cycles and lifetimes.
Two different articles cover a recent report on the attitudes of Australians towards retirement. What should be a enjoyable life stage is feared by many, and they fail to plan and work towards it.
Several factors contribute to the growth in managed accounts, which are like ‘implemented advice’ for investors. Despite the fallout from the Royal Commission, these factors are largely unaffected so growth should continue.
To mark our 200th edition, we asked investors and market experts for the top two investing insights they would give to their 20-year-old selves if they could go back in time.
Online wealth advice is not a ‘full-service’ offer like face-to-face advice, but it can provide tailored strategic asset allocation and investment guidance without the complexity or cost of the complete financial planning package.
The term robo-advice has quickly evolved to cover a broad range of automated advice and investment solutions. But the underlying principle is the use of a formula or set of rules to assist with managing wealth.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2024 was a banner year for equities, with a run-up in US tech stocks broadening into a global market rally, and the big question now is whether the good times can continue? History suggests optimism is warranted.
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.