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25 January 2025
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Retirement village contracts often require significant upfront payments, with residents losing control over their money. While they may offer a '100% share in capital gain', it's important to look at the numbers before committing.
The real estate industry, traditionally characterised by its cautious adoption of new technologies, is now at a pivotal juncture. The emergence of AI promises to fundamentally change the way we live, work, and play.
Many assets have had a rollercoaster 2023 though most are up, and some of them are up a lot. Here we compare valuations of cash, bonds, stocks, and property, and suggest where investors may be able find a bargain.
Private markets investors on average make more than public markets investors, and this is likely to continue. With more options available, it's now possible for individuals to build a private markets portfolio.
Most asset classes haven't fully adjusted to the sharp interest rate rises. Prices of stocks, housing and commercial property need to fall for them to provide attractive yields compared with risk-free government bonds.
As people stayed home during the pandemic, a bearish view swept over most property sectors, but many have thrived and prices have recovered rapidly. The best opportunities are in long leases with quality tenants.
The investment industry is looking for the best ways to engage with millennials. While younger people want to invest, they are either saving for a home or cannot afford to invest at the moment.
Nobody revalues their own home each day in the way they revalue listed equities, but does that mean the value is constant? The daily unit price is calculated in some super funds using unlisted asset valuations.
As interest rates remain low and foreign buyers come looking for assets, listed property has performed well, but asset allocators can move in and out of the sector based on other factors.
Investments that offer some element of tax effectiveness or tax breaks can be good, but it's unwise to make investment decisions, both buying or selling, based solely on beneficial tax treatment.
SMSFs are being targeted by property marketers, but is a single, illiquid investment a good super strategy, with its associated leverage? ASIC is worried SMSF trustees are not seeing the full picture, so we went looking.
In 2017, significant changes were made to property depreciation legislation. Residential property investors and owners should become familiar with how the changes will affect their current and future assets.
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.