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31 December 2024
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Unlike most other superannuation funds, UniSuper hasn’t piled into unlisted assets. Because of this, it has extra cash on hand and is taking advantage of opportunities opening up as rate hikes crunch economies.
Mark Delaney of AustralianSuper manages more retirement savings than any other person in the country. He explains his views on illiquid assets, bonds versus equities, internal funds management and a coming recession.
ASX small caps have recently underperformed larger companies and liquidity in these companies has vanished. That provides a chance for enterprising investors to buy fast growing yet cheap small and micro cap stocks.
Major bank transaction accounts are paying poor rates on cash at exactly the time when many SMSF trustees are holding more cash than usual due to tough bond and equity markets. Here are some rules and opportunities.
The outlook for emerging market debt in 2021 revolves around liquidity, uneven recoveries and debt sustainability. Damage has been done to many countries’ finances and watch for central banks withdrawing support.
At some point, policymakers will turn to the task of deleveraging, to work off massive debt burdens built up during the pandemic. Australia is already ticking the boxes on many policies used in the past.
Markets always come back to fundamentals, valuations and liquidity, even when faced with a global pandemic. The key question is whether liquidity can hold up the market as the economic storm hits.
Large super funds hold unlisted assets such as infrastructure, property and private equity. It's likely many of these assets have not been revalued recently, inflating the price paid to members who exit.
An investment with any fund manager should be part of an asset allocation decision, but what happens when your equity manager decides to do a major switch to cash? It messes up your plan.
Equity market vigilanties, particularly resisting poor Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), are showing the benefits of active managers not simply buying everything put in front of them.
APRA’s letter to super funds highlights concerns about 'cash' investments. A lack of understanding might haunt investors when the next downturn comes as too many people forsake protection for yield.
One benefit of ETFs for investors is their tradability - being able to buy or sell at any time through the ASX just like an ordinary share. But this leads many investors to mistakenly evaluate their liquidity in the same way.
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Firstlinks’ co-founder and former Managing Editor, Graham Hand, has died aged 66. Graham was a legendary figure in the finance industry and here are three tributes to him.
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 Future Fund's original purpose was to meet the unfunded liabilities of Commonwealth defined benefit schemes. These liabilities have ballooned to an estimated $290 billion and taxpayers continue to be treated like fools.
ASFA provides a key guide for how much you will need to live on in retirement. Unfortunately it has many deficiencies, and the averages don't tell the full story of the growing gender superannuation gap.
The Big Four banks have had an extraordinary run and it’s left income investors with a conundrum: to stick with them even though they now offer relatively low dividend yields and limited growth prospects or to look elsewhere.
A triple headwind has seen Australia's biggest LIC swing to a 10% discount and scuppered its relative performance. Management was bullish in an interview with Firstlinks, but is the discount ever likely to close?