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4 May 2024
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While most property segments had a tough 2023, retail was comparatively resilient. The prospects for large retail assets catering to the likes of furniture and appliance stores look especially attractive for this year.
Bonds have had a miserable time of it for the past three years. Yet with central banks almost done with interest rate hikes and inflation set to fall towards central bank targets, bonds look primed for a bounce back.
Magellan Financial Group has had a tough time of it, with its faltering funds management business getting all the attention. Less mentioned is the significant value in the company's other assets, such as Barrenjoey.
Like the proverbial middle child, global mid-caps tend to be overlooked and underappreciated. However, mid-caps offer potentially more growth than large caps and less risk and volatility than small and micro-caps.
Industrial property has been Australian real estate’s star performer for a decade, notching up an annualised 10-year return of 14.2%. The big question is whether this can continue, and here the pros and cons are weighed.
Traditionally, equity income funds buy high-dividend companies but earnings growth should be a key component of an investment strategy. Receiving income from selling call options compensates for the lower dividends.
Work-from-home and higher interest rates have whacked the office property sector, both here and abroad. Yet Australia is well-placed to adapt given its resilient demand drivers, quality of stock and sensible gearing levels.
It's important to demand the highest standards from firms that are entrusted with managing other people’s savings. Key attributes to look for are strong stewardship and the ability to deliver long-term returns.
Platforms are an integral part of the financial advice process, delivering efficiencies to advisers and allowing them to cover more clients. But one platform will never be the holy grail as every client is different.
There are opportunities for savvy individuals to retire before their peers. Factors like longevity risk – and other variables like inflation and interest rate fluctuations – will always exist, but these things can be mitigated.
In 2023, the focus will shift to the economic cycle. While equities and some of the riskier fixed income markets have challenges, a solid risk-free rate added to a 3-4% equity risk premium is a good through-cycle return.
There is much written about office, industrial, and retail property, but specialised REITs are starting to get more attention from investors. Here's a look at one, potentially lucrative, niche property segment: pubs.
The ATO has released all the superannuation rates and thresholds that will apply from 1 July 2024. Here's what’s changing and what’s not, and some key considerations and opportunities in the lead up to 30 June and beyond.
Life has radically shifted with my brain cancer, and I don’t know if it will ever be the same again. After decades of writing and a dozen years with Firstlinks, I still want to contribute, but exactly how and when I do that is unclear.
How useful are the retirement savings and spending targets put out by various groups such as ASFA? Not very, and it's reducing the ability of ordinary retirees to fully understand their retirement income options.
Australia will have 3.7 million more people in a decade's time, though the growth won't be evenly distributed. Over 85s will see the fastest growth, while the number of younger people will barely rise.
Investor disgust, consolidation, de-listings, price discounts, activist investors entering - it’s what typically happens at business cycle troughs, and it’s happening to LICs now. That may present a potential opportunity.
The $3 million super tax will capture retired, and soon to retire, public servants and politicians who are members of defined benefit superannuation schemes. Lobbying efforts for exemptions to the tax are intensifying.