Register here to receive the Firstlinks newsletter for freeThey need to build up a home deposit and enough to pay any stamp duties. Let’s say this amount required for their home deposit will be $250K in today’s dollars, and that their goal is to accumulate this home deposit in 10 years. They will make contributions of $20K each year into their ...
While Australia does not have an official inheritance tax, that doesn’t mean there won’t be tax bills and administrative delays depending upon how assets are passed on. In some cases, poor estate planning can cost beneficiaries hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The biggest misconception with estate planning is that it is purely about documenting your ...
In recent years, machine learning has been touted as a game changer for investment management. The authors of “Machine learning and fund characteristics help to select mutual funds with positive alpha,” published in the December 2023 issue of the Journal of Financial Economics, claimed that machine-learning methods could identify long-only mutual fund ...
Here’s my go-to chart on the BIG Picture on inflation over the past 150 years. Here we are talking about serious long-term investing.
Over the past few decades, I have advised (and mentored advisors for) serious long-term investors, including family offices, perpetual charities and endowments, where investment time frames are measured in generations, ...
The rapid decline in the number of financial planners in Australia over the past decade (from around 28,000 at the peak in early 2019 to just over 15,100 today) has been a huge factor in reducing the accessibility and affordability of financial advice. On top of this, the impact of increased regulation and red tape has made it more expensive for ...
For those of you who have just connected, I retired 3 months ago from being a full-time academic after researching retirement planning for nearly 20 years. Now I am focusing on implementing my findings: for myself, for individuals and for organisations. As I promised when I retired, I am providing a month-by-month account of my findings from the other ...
A Productivity Tax exists when the interplay of different taxes means high productivity businesses pay a higher tax rate than low productivity businesses.
A high productivity business is a business that grows fast, at a speed above inflation; low productivity businesses grow more slowly, usually at or below the inflation rate.
High-productivity ...
I’ve been reflecting on the debate within the comments section around the tax policy announced by the government. Firstlinks is not a political publication and instead seeks to inform investors about topics related to markets and building wealth.
This is where politics and markets intersect. Various government policies impact markets and strategies to ...
The world economy is not yet sliding into recession, but the outlook has become more difficult. Growth through 2026 will be challenged by the Iran war, the associated oil shock, rising inflation, and weakening confidence in the USD and US bond market. A rebound in 2027 remains plausible, but only if the energy shock resolves in the coming months.
This ...
“Design a portfolio you are not likely to trade… akin to premarital counselling advice; try to build a portfolio that you can live with for a long, long time.” Robert Arnott, Research Affiliates
The financial industry has long projected an image of delivering superior returns through complex strategies. And this certainly might be the case for a ...
There is a point, somewhere around early August, when the global oil market runs out of road if current conditions persist. That is not scaremongering. It is arithmetic, and it is worth understanding the working.
The trigger is the double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day would ...
Oil at ~US$90-$100/bbl (barrel) represents a ~60% hike in prices from pre-conflict levels, with risks of higher prices omnipresent. Since the commencement of conflict, the ensuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, damage to energy infrastructure in the region and resurgence in global geopolitical uncertainty are conditions to truly test the mettle of ...
Register here to receive the Firstlinks newsletter for freeThey need to build up a home deposit and enough to pay any stamp duties. Let’s say this amount required for their home deposit will be $250K in today’s dollars, and that their goal is to accumulate this home deposit in 10 years. They will make contributions of $20K each year into their ...
While Australia does not have an official inheritance tax, that doesn’t mean there won’t be tax bills and administrative delays depending upon how assets are passed on. In some cases, poor estate planning can cost beneficiaries hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The biggest misconception with estate planning is that it is purely about documenting your ...
In recent years, machine learning has been touted as a game changer for investment management. The authors of “Machine learning and fund characteristics help to select mutual funds with positive alpha,” published in the December 2023 issue of the Journal of Financial Economics, claimed that machine-learning methods could identify long-only mutual fund ...
Here’s my go-to chart on the BIG Picture on inflation over the past 150 years. Here we are talking about serious long-term investing.
Over the past few decades, I have advised (and mentored advisors for) serious long-term investors, including family offices, perpetual charities and endowments, where investment time frames are measured in generations, ...
The rapid decline in the number of financial planners in Australia over the past decade (from around 28,000 at the peak in early 2019 to just over 15,100 today) has been a huge factor in reducing the accessibility and affordability of financial advice. On top of this, the impact of increased regulation and red tape has made it more expensive for ...
For those of you who have just connected, I retired 3 months ago from being a full-time academic after researching retirement planning for nearly 20 years. Now I am focusing on implementing my findings: for myself, for individuals and for organisations. As I promised when I retired, I am providing a month-by-month account of my findings from the other ...
A Productivity Tax exists when the interplay of different taxes means high productivity businesses pay a higher tax rate than low productivity businesses.
A high productivity business is a business that grows fast, at a speed above inflation; low productivity businesses grow more slowly, usually at or below the inflation rate.
High-productivity ...
I’ve been reflecting on the debate within the comments section around the tax policy announced by the government. Firstlinks is not a political publication and instead seeks to inform investors about topics related to markets and building wealth.
This is where politics and markets intersect. Various government policies impact markets and strategies to ...
The world economy is not yet sliding into recession, but the outlook has become more difficult. Growth through 2026 will be challenged by the Iran war, the associated oil shock, rising inflation, and weakening confidence in the USD and US bond market. A rebound in 2027 remains plausible, but only if the energy shock resolves in the coming months.
This ...
“Design a portfolio you are not likely to trade… akin to premarital counselling advice; try to build a portfolio that you can live with for a long, long time.” Robert Arnott, Research Affiliates
The financial industry has long projected an image of delivering superior returns through complex strategies. And this certainly might be the case for a ...
There is a point, somewhere around early August, when the global oil market runs out of road if current conditions persist. That is not scaremongering. It is arithmetic, and it is worth understanding the working.
The trigger is the double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day would ...
Oil at ~US$90-$100/bbl (barrel) represents a ~60% hike in prices from pre-conflict levels, with risks of higher prices omnipresent. Since the commencement of conflict, the ensuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, damage to energy infrastructure in the region and resurgence in global geopolitical uncertainty are conditions to truly test the mettle of ...
