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31 January 2025
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We’d love to hear your thoughts on Firstlinks and how we can make it better for you. If you’d like to help us out in a just a couple of minutes, please take our short survey.
We each have a unique inflation experience but does it feel as if your own cost of living has gone up more than the official CPI? Australia has taken a step change in the cost of goods and services but what about yours?
Thank you for the hundreds of responses to our Reader Survey and to give as big a sample as possible, we are leaving it open for a few more days. Here is a sample of the results so far.
It is many years since we ran a Reader Survey to find out more about our audience. To celebrate our 500th edition, as your present to us, please provide feedback that will help to improve our content for years to come.
From thousands of comments received about future policies for Australia, we have selected 70 highlights showing a diversity of views, illustrating the challenges as Treasurer Chalmers heads to his first Budget.
Over 800 responses and thousands of comments is great feedback. Readers of Firstlinks hold strong opinions on gas, taxes, inflation, child care and cost-of-living concessions, and now the Governor is buying in.
The first Labor Budget in a decade comes at a critical time for the new government, facing policy decisions on many fronts. Take our Reader Survey on these six questions and let us know what you would do.
Amid thousands of comments, tips include developing interests to keep occupied, planning in advance to have enough money, staying connected with friends and communities ... should you defer retirement or just do it?
All Baby Boomers are now over 55 and many are either in retirement or thinking about a transition from work. But what is retirement like? Is it the golden years or a drag? Do you have tips for making the most of it?
In almost 1,000 responses, our readers differ in voting intentions versus polling of the general population, but they have little doubt who will win and there is widespread disappointment with our politics.
Apparently, the major parties both have a 'plan' for the future, but they look like more of the same. What are the issues we should be debating? Who do you expect to win the election? What is bothering you?
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.
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.
Getting regular, growing income from stocks is tougher with the dividend yield on the ASX nearing 25-year lows. Here are some conventional and not-so-conventional ideas for investors wanting to build a dividend portfolio.