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8 January 2025
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Australia faces a wave of retirees at a stage where the superannuation system is still maturing. Better and fairer policy on the role of the family home as a retirement asset might help.
Australian consumers have held up remarkably well amid rising interest rates and inflation. Yet, there are increasing signs that this is turning, and the weakness in consumer spending may last years, not months.
The cost of living crisis has made spending control front-of-mind for many people. New research shows that paying by cash rather than card, even if inconvenient, can be a valuable tool in controlling expenses.
In the six months of my battle with brain cancer, one part of financial markets has fascinated me, and it’s probably not what you think. What's led the pages of my reading is real estate, especially residential.
Young people hold the majority of home loans while older people have the vast majority of deposits. It's not hard to see why rising interest rates are hurting the young and resulting in increased intergenerational tension.
Interest rates are political dynamite in Australia given high home ownership and household debt. But increased rates are not bad for everyone and they are what's needed after the serious central banking errors of the past decade.
Economic growth, profit growth and therefore dividend growth for Australia is fairly assured over the next decade and the opportunity for patient investors to benefit is greatly enhanced by recent price corrections.
One of the major questions confronting investors is the portfolio weighting towards Australian banks in an environment of rising rates. Do the recent price falls represent value or are too many bad debts coming?
The widespread use of 'millionaire' must stop. Inflation means that the basket of goods and services that cost $1 million in 1960 now requires $15 million. Today, millionaires are not wealthy.
At the start of the 20th century, a 'Gilded Age' for plutocrats created vast fortunes and economic inequality surged. COVID is having the same impact now, but portfolios can be adapted to respond to the opportunities.
The recent rise in the prices of bank hybrids fails to recognise the risks involved, and they now look expensive compared to alternatives available to both retail and institutional investors.
There are many investment options for children beyond a savings account, but the merits of each are different for everyone. Here's some guidance for parents of both younger and older kids.
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.
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.
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.