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21 January 2025
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Investors need to be more discerning this year as headline valuations are high and the economic cycle turns. Dig a little deeper, though, and there are big opportunities in overlooked shares with strong tailwinds.
What is the X-factor - the largely unexpected influence that wasn’t thought about when the year began but came from left field to have powerful effects on investment returns - for 2024? It's time to select the winner.
While other car giants committed early to an electric vehicle future, Toyota said that hybrids offered the most practical pathway to lower emissions. That decision looks prescient, and points to a bright outlook for the company.
Stocks always outperform bonds in the long-term, right? New research challenges that assumption, raising questions about historical financial data, and forecasts for future performance from the two largest asset classes.
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.
What is the X-factor - the largely unexpected influence that wasn’t thought about when the year began but came from left field to have powerful effects on investment returns - for 2023? It's time to select the winner.
Contrarian investing is not about doing the opposite to everyone else no matter what, it’s having courage in your convictions in a disciplined investment process. Here are examples of contrarian investing in practice.
Five years ago, the move towards passive investment in the US was obvious, and warranted. But there are compelling reasons to think that the next decade will be a more productive environment for active strategies.
Pundits have once again declared the death of the 60% stock/40% bond portfolio amid sharp declines in both stock and bond prices. Based on history, balanced portfolios are apt to prove the naysayers wrong, again.
Over eight years since February 2013, Firstlinks has become a leading financial newsletter, publishing thousands of articles from hundreds of writers. To mark this milestone, 45 experts have joined the celebration for our 400th edition bringing their best investing ideas for the next few years.
Many investors use the new year to review their portfolios, and in this free ebook, two dozen fund managers and product providers give their best ideas for 2021 - some stocks, some funds, some sectors.
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.