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21 January 2025
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On December 9, 1983, the Hawke Labor Government made the momentous decision to float the Australian dollar. This looks back at the history behind the decision and how it's served the country well since.
Paul Keating envisaged a super system which funded retirement. For many, it has become a tax shelter where wealth is captured and passed on to descendants and the role of the family home is substantially overlooked.
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.
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.
Paul Keating not only designed compulsory superannuation but in the 30 years since its introduction, he has maintained the rage. Here are highlights of three articles on SG's origins and two more recent interviews.
The solutions to retirement problems are obvious. All we need are 'efficiency' and 'flexibility'. Learn what these two words mean and the future of superannuation policy is clear. Just don't tell Paul Keating.
The Retirement Income Review demonstrated limited understanding of the risks faced by self-funded retirees implementing rational human behaviour. Spending to qualify for the age pension is not a solution.
Paul Keating is the champion of compulsory superannuation as the central means of funding retirement. In the wake of the Retirement Income Review, he is at his passionate best defending the system, with Leigh Sales.
‘It's your money’ flouts the strict superannuation access rules we have accepted since 1992, and many are putting short-term wants ahead of long-term needs. Is this the best outcome for 2.6 million people?
The design of superannuation is part of a social contract, and people who do not understand the long-term context are often offended that super funds should be tax-free in retirement. Don't blame Peter Costello.
Life expectancies have increased dramatically since the nineties, but the uncertainty is forcing retirees to live too frugally. The super industry is switching its attention to the drawdown phase to find better solutions.
702 ABC Sydney listeners have selected their archive favourites of '10 guests from 10 years' of Conversations with Richard Fidler. This week, they played an interview with Paul Keating. Lots of fun.
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.