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22 January 2025
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Debt recycling is a powerful strategy for those juggling the seemingly competing goals of debt reduction and building an investment portfolio. Yet it's often misunderstood because it isn't just a single strategy.
Capital growth may disappoint over the next decade, making dividends critical to investor returns. The best stocks will be those that pay consistent, high dividends and are inexpensive.
Taking a 'total return' approach rather than focussing only on income allows investors to build portfolios in line with their goals and risk tolerance using rebalancing back to their target asset allocation.
The simple message to diversify is not new, but thousands of SMSF trustees focus only on equities and dividends. COVID-19 is encouraging SMSFs to consider different investment strategies.
The search for income and cash flow by people relying on their investments has never been more difficult, so it's worth understanding both the opportunities and the overall context.
The role of a portfolio manager changes when normal opportunities become constrained. Flexibility and diversification in seeking alternatives in new markets is vital to adapting.
The current yield on a share or trust is simply the latest dividend divided by the current share price, an abstract number at a point in time. What really matters is the income delivered in the long run.
In seeking additional income, some type of market risk must be taken to earn above the 2% on term deposits. The listed market now offers a vast array of alternatives not available even a couple of years ago.
Many ‘baby boomer’ retirees contemplating decades of retirement prefer a sustainable lifestyle based on a steady income that keeps up with inflation. New perceptions of risk are required to meet such income demands.
Whilst the latest cut in the target cash rate to 2.25% is a positive move for equity investors, it's a negative for savers, especially retirees living off the income generated by their term deposits.
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.