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21 January 2025
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The Retirement Income Covenant mandates super funds create retirement strategies, but progress has been uneven, leaving retirees underserved. Retirement licensing could enforce standards and improve outcomes.
The vast sum of money in super will dwarf the size of the ASX and our GDP in coming years yet allocation is not subject to any regulatory control. Where should super policy be housed and how should assets be invested?
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.
Underpinning the current wave of consolidation amongst Australian super funds is the belief that it helps to be big. Is this really the case and is there any advantage in being a member of a large super fund?
Is bigger better for super funds? APRA certainly thinks so as it pushes for more mergers but what might members be losing from a more personal touch? Veteran journalist Greg Bright explains events at Media Super.
SMSFs are currently the largest segment of superannuation, but by 2020, industry funds are expected to dominate, having recently overtaken retail funds. Labor's franking proposal will accelerate the trend.
A study of member communication by superannuation funds in 2013 and again in 2015 shows how much the industry has increased its digital interactions, what works and what doesn't.
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.