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22 January 2025
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Debt recycling is a powerful strategy for those juggling the seemingly competing goals of debt reduction and building an investment portfolio. Yet it's often misunderstood because it isn't just a single strategy.
From going it alone with an SMSF to defaulting into a large super fund's balanced option, administration time and fees for super vary materially. Here's a guide to the costs involved and the potential impact on returns.
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.
There are strategies for this EOFY which could reduce your tax bill while supporting other objectives such as charitable giving, insurances, personal or spouse super contributions, or asset purchases for business.
Putting money aside to pay for a child's education requires a serious savings effort, and lack of access to superannuation rules it out as a tax-effective and flexible option. There is an alternative.
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.
Research shows most super fund investment managers consider tax implications when making their investment decisions. With the right tax knowledge and confidence, they could achieve even greater tax efficiency.
With some extra thought in estate planning, a bequest to a charity could be made in a more tax-effective way, creating the potential for larger bequests.
Accountancy practices have been a poor second cousin to financial planning businesses in terms of sale price and merger and acquisition activity. Here’s why that might change soon.
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.