Being a teenager in the early 1990s, I remember watching the budget movie that became a cult classic, Dazed and Confused. It followed a bunch of teenagers on their last day of high school, and how they were uncertain about their own identities and about the world. There was a lot of partying, and pot. Several of the young actors went on to bigger ...
In 1991, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration conducted an inquiry into print media, and billionaire Kerry Packer appeared before it. The committee pressed Packer on how little tax his companies paid, to which he replied:
“I am not evading tax in any way, shape or form. Now of course I am minimising my ...
Australians are retiring with unprecedented levels of wealth. This wealth, which is primarily held in housing, investment properties and superannuation, allows retirees to draw incomes to support their retirement.
As Australians have become wealthier, we might expect government spending on social safety nets for older Australians to fall. Instead, we ...
The Australian investment landscape is set for another skirmish in the ongoing fee war. Recently, a new ASX300 exchange-traded fund launched with an expense ratio of 0.04%, challenging the incumbent and its 0.07% fee. Online, the excel models are already running hot in a ferocious contest over three-hundredths of a percentage point – a sum amounting to ...
If you open a bank account but refuse to disclose your Tax File Number, the bank is required by law to withhold tax from the interest paid to you. Your personal tax return needs to report all of the interest you earned, not just the after-tax portion you received. Your tax return must include that pre-paid tax, otherwise you would be paying tax twice ...
One topic is cropping up a lot in my conversations with investors. It is, you may not be surprised to read as the bull market approaches its third birthday, a variant of: ‘are the good times about to end?’ It’s a good question but impossible to answer. Which makes another one possibly more interesting: ‘how much does it matter?’
This is less stupid ...
The 2025 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI) showed that Australia’s Index score had improved to its highest level in 10 years but remained a B+ grade system. It ranked Australia 7th out of 52 pension systems around the world. While this result appears commendable, it represents Australia’s lowest ranking in the 17 years of the ...
Australia's wine regions present a property paradox: the most prestigious wine areas don't necessarily command the highest prices or strongest growth.
The relationship between wine industry fundamentals and residential property performance reveals that production volume, export economics, and infrastructure investment often matter more than reputation ...
Every time I go to Canberra, I marvel at it being clean, green and generally upper-middle class. It’s been that way for a long time and it’s no accident. Obviously, it houses federal public servants and has benefited from increased government spending, federal and local, since it was created. A bet on most things Canberra has been a one-way bet for 100 ...
Recently, I wrote an article asking whether Listed Investment Companies (LICs) are licked. I concluded that LICs faced a challenging future given waning structural demand. That said, NAV discounts for them could narrow in the short term as interest rates fell.
In response to the article, subscriber Steve made this comment:
“… it would seem there is a ...
Australia sits among the world’s wealthiest nations on a median# household basis. However, much of that wealth is in residential property, now nearing $12 trillion in aggregate, almost three times the size of current total superannuation system assets.
That concentration of illiquid non-financial wealth is creating its own complications as retirement ...
The ASX 20 is intriguing, representing 60%+ of the ASX 200 and making Australia one of the world’s most concentrated stock markets. But rather than large blue chips companies compounding earnings and driving up the market (like it is in the US), it comprises mature and cyclical businesses that simply aren’t growing and some of which appear to be ...
Being a teenager in the early 1990s, I remember watching the budget movie that became a cult classic, Dazed and Confused. It followed a bunch of teenagers on their last day of high school, and how they were uncertain about their own identities and about the world. There was a lot of partying, and pot. Several of the young actors went on to bigger ...
In 1991, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration conducted an inquiry into print media, and billionaire Kerry Packer appeared before it. The committee pressed Packer on how little tax his companies paid, to which he replied:
“I am not evading tax in any way, shape or form. Now of course I am minimising my ...
Australians are retiring with unprecedented levels of wealth. This wealth, which is primarily held in housing, investment properties and superannuation, allows retirees to draw incomes to support their retirement.
As Australians have become wealthier, we might expect government spending on social safety nets for older Australians to fall. Instead, we ...
The Australian investment landscape is set for another skirmish in the ongoing fee war. Recently, a new ASX300 exchange-traded fund launched with an expense ratio of 0.04%, challenging the incumbent and its 0.07% fee. Online, the excel models are already running hot in a ferocious contest over three-hundredths of a percentage point – a sum amounting to ...
If you open a bank account but refuse to disclose your Tax File Number, the bank is required by law to withhold tax from the interest paid to you. Your personal tax return needs to report all of the interest you earned, not just the after-tax portion you received. Your tax return must include that pre-paid tax, otherwise you would be paying tax twice ...
One topic is cropping up a lot in my conversations with investors. It is, you may not be surprised to read as the bull market approaches its third birthday, a variant of: ‘are the good times about to end?’ It’s a good question but impossible to answer. Which makes another one possibly more interesting: ‘how much does it matter?’
This is less stupid ...
The 2025 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI) showed that Australia’s Index score had improved to its highest level in 10 years but remained a B+ grade system. It ranked Australia 7th out of 52 pension systems around the world. While this result appears commendable, it represents Australia’s lowest ranking in the 17 years of the ...
Australia's wine regions present a property paradox: the most prestigious wine areas don't necessarily command the highest prices or strongest growth.
The relationship between wine industry fundamentals and residential property performance reveals that production volume, export economics, and infrastructure investment often matter more than reputation ...
Every time I go to Canberra, I marvel at it being clean, green and generally upper-middle class. It’s been that way for a long time and it’s no accident. Obviously, it houses federal public servants and has benefited from increased government spending, federal and local, since it was created. A bet on most things Canberra has been a one-way bet for 100 ...
Recently, I wrote an article asking whether Listed Investment Companies (LICs) are licked. I concluded that LICs faced a challenging future given waning structural demand. That said, NAV discounts for them could narrow in the short term as interest rates fell.
In response to the article, subscriber Steve made this comment:
“… it would seem there is a ...
Australia sits among the world’s wealthiest nations on a median# household basis. However, much of that wealth is in residential property, now nearing $12 trillion in aggregate, almost three times the size of current total superannuation system assets.
That concentration of illiquid non-financial wealth is creating its own complications as retirement ...
The ASX 20 is intriguing, representing 60%+ of the ASX 200 and making Australia one of the world’s most concentrated stock markets. But rather than large blue chips companies compounding earnings and driving up the market (like it is in the US), it comprises mature and cyclical businesses that simply aren’t growing and some of which appear to be ...
