When I was teenager and living outside of New York I used to listen to a radio station called WFAN. For 24 hours a day the station was dedicated to sport. Most of the programming involved a host arguing with callers about some esoteric sporting topic – player A was better than player B, etc.
This was one of my less harmful teenage vices but it is hard ...
What’s war good for? With apologies to Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, absolutely nothing from humanity’s point of view.
While the human cost of conflict - measured in lives lost, families displaced, and immense suffering - is profound and undeniable, the historical relationship between geopolitical chaos and long-term equity ...
The debate around the capital gains tax (CGT) ‘discount’ is really heating up due to budgetary pressures, and arguments around ‘intergenerational equity’ and housing affordability. But the so-called ‘discount’ is not a concession, rather it is an ‘adjustment’ to approximate gains arising from inflation that should not be taxed.
Prior to 1999, the cost ...
For members with balances above $3 million, Division 296 imposes an additional 15% tax on realised earnings attributable to the excess, rising to 30% for that portion of the balance above $10 million. Much of the early planning response has focused on the obvious levers: investment strategy, balance management, and whether to elect a CGT cost base ...
Software companies, long regarded as some of the most durable and profitable businesses, faced an indiscriminate sell-off in early 2026, with investors referring to the moment as the “SaaSpocalypse.”
Behind this sell-off was the rapid emergence of powerful AI coding agents, such as Claude Code and Openclaw, which made headlines by demonstrating that AI ...
Europe has been propelled into a profound transformation. Ongoing security threats and pressure from the US administration have prompted greater resolve from EU (European Union) member states to take more control over their future. This is a transformational change for Europe and forms part of a larger trend we refer to as the Great Global ...
Welcome to the new space race, brought to you by AI.
Data centers built to deliver artificial intelligence (AI) services are springing up as fast as Wall Street can finance them. Meanwhile, these sprawling digital workhorses are inhaling electricity (putting pressure on already stretched grids) and consuming massive amounts of water for cooling. ...
For many Australians, most of their retirement wealth is tied up in their home. A simple, well-designed program to tap into those trillions in home equity could help boost their retirement incomes.
Such a program exists. However, it remains little known and underused.
The federal government’s Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) allows older Australians to ...
The economic impacts of the war in Iran continue to dominate headlines. Investors are following their typical playbook and rushing into the ‘obvious’ winners of the turmoil in the Middle East.
For instance, there are higher oil prices. Over the previous month the following energy companies have performed well:
Exxon Mobil is up 12.44%
Chevron is up ...
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE) and consumer price index (CPI) figures which are used to determine key superannuation rates and thresholds that will apply from 1 July 2026. This article outlines the rates and thresholds that are changing and those that aren’t. It also explains key ...
In 1971, an uncle of Don Brash, the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 1988 to 2002, invested the proceeds from selling his fruit farm in 18-year government bonds yielding 5.4%. At that time, the uncle’s NZ$30,000 could buy 11 four-cylinder cars.
But when the bonds matured in 1989 the NZ$30,000 could buy only one of those cars. Inflation, ...
Audio: Listen to this article
Recently, Firstlinks published an article comparing the performance of LICs and ETFs. It concluded that LICs have generally underperformed their ETF peers over a range of timeframes.
That may be true in some cases.
But before we draw that conclusion, there is a more fundamental question that needs to be addressed: Are we ...
When I was teenager and living outside of New York I used to listen to a radio station called WFAN. For 24 hours a day the station was dedicated to sport. Most of the programming involved a host arguing with callers about some esoteric sporting topic – player A was better than player B, etc.
This was one of my less harmful teenage vices but it is hard ...
What’s war good for? With apologies to Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, absolutely nothing from humanity’s point of view.
While the human cost of conflict - measured in lives lost, families displaced, and immense suffering - is profound and undeniable, the historical relationship between geopolitical chaos and long-term equity ...
The debate around the capital gains tax (CGT) ‘discount’ is really heating up due to budgetary pressures, and arguments around ‘intergenerational equity’ and housing affordability. But the so-called ‘discount’ is not a concession, rather it is an ‘adjustment’ to approximate gains arising from inflation that should not be taxed.
Prior to 1999, the cost ...
For members with balances above $3 million, Division 296 imposes an additional 15% tax on realised earnings attributable to the excess, rising to 30% for that portion of the balance above $10 million. Much of the early planning response has focused on the obvious levers: investment strategy, balance management, and whether to elect a CGT cost base ...
Software companies, long regarded as some of the most durable and profitable businesses, faced an indiscriminate sell-off in early 2026, with investors referring to the moment as the “SaaSpocalypse.”
Behind this sell-off was the rapid emergence of powerful AI coding agents, such as Claude Code and Openclaw, which made headlines by demonstrating that AI ...
Europe has been propelled into a profound transformation. Ongoing security threats and pressure from the US administration have prompted greater resolve from EU (European Union) member states to take more control over their future. This is a transformational change for Europe and forms part of a larger trend we refer to as the Great Global ...
Welcome to the new space race, brought to you by AI.
Data centers built to deliver artificial intelligence (AI) services are springing up as fast as Wall Street can finance them. Meanwhile, these sprawling digital workhorses are inhaling electricity (putting pressure on already stretched grids) and consuming massive amounts of water for cooling. ...
For many Australians, most of their retirement wealth is tied up in their home. A simple, well-designed program to tap into those trillions in home equity could help boost their retirement incomes.
Such a program exists. However, it remains little known and underused.
The federal government’s Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) allows older Australians to ...
The economic impacts of the war in Iran continue to dominate headlines. Investors are following their typical playbook and rushing into the ‘obvious’ winners of the turmoil in the Middle East.
For instance, there are higher oil prices. Over the previous month the following energy companies have performed well:
Exxon Mobil is up 12.44%
Chevron is up ...
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE) and consumer price index (CPI) figures which are used to determine key superannuation rates and thresholds that will apply from 1 July 2026. This article outlines the rates and thresholds that are changing and those that aren’t. It also explains key ...
In 1971, an uncle of Don Brash, the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 1988 to 2002, invested the proceeds from selling his fruit farm in 18-year government bonds yielding 5.4%. At that time, the uncle’s NZ$30,000 could buy 11 four-cylinder cars.
But when the bonds matured in 1989 the NZ$30,000 could buy only one of those cars. Inflation, ...
Audio: Listen to this article
Recently, Firstlinks published an article comparing the performance of LICs and ETFs. It concluded that LICs have generally underperformed their ETF peers over a range of timeframes.
That may be true in some cases.
But before we draw that conclusion, there is a more fundamental question that needs to be addressed: Are we ...
