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25 January 2025
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The market share for Exchange Traded Funds and index trackers may increase past optimal levels and stay there for many years. There seems very little if anything that active managers can do to reverse that.
Despite an explosion in data, investment titan, Cliff Asness, believes the market has become less efficient, not more, over his 34-year career. He explains why, and how you can take advantage of it.
Famed investor David Einhorn says passive investing has broken markets and it's forced him to change his investment style to stay in business. How has passive investing transformed markets, and what happens next?
Businesses exploit the psychological processes that people go through when they decide to buy something, but does the US research work when faced with "traditional hard-bitten, no-bullshit Australian scepticism"?
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.
Many investors are deluding themselves expecting high returns without taking risks, and it has poor consequences for retirement planning and setting goals. It pays to be more realistic.
In 1993, researchers in the US studied the phenomenon of winning stocks continuing to outperform losing stocks. Using both long and short positions one could theoretically outperform the market on a regular basis.
Smart beta strategies which weight companies in a portfolio by factors other than market capitalisation are gaining popularity. But they need a further dimension to assist in the preservation of capital.
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.