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2025 Q1 Market Update Priced to Perfection – January 2025 “Although expectations of the future are supposed to be the driving force in the capital markets, those expectations are almost totall...

10 Steps to Successful Investing in 2025 and Beyond The New Year is the perfect time to revisit your investment strategy and set a fresh course for the year ahead. Whether you’re fine-tuning a well-...

How Interest Rates Impact your Borrowing Capacity Higher interest rates make it harder for borrowers to qualify for larger loans or even loans of any size. That’s because for every increase of 0...

Asset Class Performance October was generally a risk-off period with declines in both global equity and bond returns. Solid US economic data and uncertainty ahead of the US Presidential election saw b...

Trump’s Back – What Does That Mean? Donald Trump was elected President of the US (again) – implications for investors and Australia. Key points The return of Donald Trump to the US p...

Why Does a Consistent 1% Outperformance Matter? At first glance, earning 1% more than the market benchmark might not seem significant. But thanks to compounding, even small gains can add up to a big d...

Why Buy and Hold Can Be a Lucrative Strategy: A Deep Dive into Property Ownership Costs in Australia The idea of buying and holding property is a well-regarded strategy, especially when considering th...

Dollar Cost Averaging Explained Understanding Dollar Cost Averaging: A Strategy for Long-Term Success Investing in the financial markets can often feel daunting, especially with the ever-present ups a...

9 Mistakes of Investing Key Points Many of the mistakes investors make are based on common sense rules of thumb that turn out to be wrong. As a result, it’s often wise for investors to turn common s...

Market Trends: Insights on Inflation, Interest Rates, and Sector Shifts Economy & Central Bank Outlook The major monetary highlight during the past month was the larger than expected 0.5% US Fed r...

Market Trends Economy & Central Bank Outlook Continued benign US inflation reports and growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates at the September policy meeting led...

How Much Do You Need to Retire in 2024? Retirement is a significant milestone that requires careful financial planning to ensure you can maintain your desired lifestyle. Understanding how much you nee...

Rents Expected to Keep Growing , but at Slower Pace Property investors have enjoyed a golden run over the past five years, during which the national median rent increased 39.7%. However, in July, rent...

How to prepare for falling term deposit rates In recent years, cash has stood out among defensive assets, reclaiming its title as ‘King’ thanks to steep interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of ...

Time Has Come Global markets The global equity rebound continued last week, buoyed by confirmation of a US rate cut next month by Fed chair Jerome Powell. Markets waited all week for Powell’s speec...

Protecting Your Wealth: How to Avoid Financial Scams In today’s increasingly digital world, financial scams have become a significant threat to investors. This article will explore common types of f...

The beginning of the financial year is a great opportunity to review your financial situation, to make sure you’re on track and on top of changes happening across tax and superannuation. Here are fi...

What is Div. 293 Tax Div. 293 tax is an additional 15% tax that may apply to the concessional contributions (CCs) of higher income earners. Div. 293 tax is payable when your income and CCs, within the...

Market Trends: The tug of war continued in June The tug of war between growth and value exposures continued in June, with relative performance still broadly correlated with the movement in bond yields...

Market Trends: Inflation Runs Cold A pull back in global bond yields led to stronger returns for both growth and defensive assets in May. The main event over the month was a relatively more benign US ...

Market Trends: Rate cut expectations scaled back Both equity and bond markets weakened in April due to a significant rebound in bond yields. Bond yields rose as sticky inflation and resilient economic...

Market Trends: Fears of a Global Recession Fading Fast Market fears of a global recession anytime soon are now all but eradicated. Resilient US economic growth, hopes of a broadening in global growth ...

Market Trends: Shares rally, but valuations look stretched Easing fears of a global recession remained the major global market theme in February, with the US Federal Reserve signalling the next move i...

Why It Can Pay To Put As Much As Possible Into Super As the retirement day of reckoning looms, it’s common for Australians of a certain age to regret not putting more into their super earlier on. Wh...

Waiting for a cut Defensive assets returns were flat in January, reflecting muted cash and Australian bond returns, and a small decline in global bond returns. Gold prices also eased a little. The maj...

What to expect from the property market in 2024 For housing, the big question on everyone’s mind is whether the property price gains seen in 2023 will continue in 2024. While there are many unce...

What to expect from markets and the economy in 2024 Having enjoyed a better than feared consumer-led recovery from COVID lockdowns, Australia’s economy in recent years has quickly been beset by a ne...

Understanding Private Debt: A Strategic Component of Investment Portfolios In the realm of investment strategies, private debt has gained significant attention and prominence among discerning investor...

The Top 5 Investment Lessons from Charlie Munger Charles “Charlie” Munger, the esteemed Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and a significant figure in the world of investments passed away recentl...

Yielding to yields Both defensive and growth assets weakened further in October, reflecting another solid increase in global bond yields. The Hamas attack on Israel was a major development in the mont...

WHAT IS A BOND? At their most basic level, bonds are a way for one entity to raise money by borrowing from another. For example, governments and corporations issue bonds to raise money from investors ...

Higher for longer Market Overview Both defensive and growth assets weakened in September, reflecting a strong further increase in global bond yields. In turn, this reflected resilient global economic ...

Easing recession risk suggests the worst may be behind us Growth vs defensive assets Growth assets returned 0.5%, marginally beating the 0.3% return from defensive assets. Growth assets have outperf...

Innovating Your Financial Future: Introducing Our Partnership with Voyant At FinPeak, our mission is to empower you to make informed and strategic financial decisions. Today, we are thrilled to announ...

The Effects of Inflation on Retirees Inflation denotes the overall price surge of goods and services in an economy, diminishing the purchasing power of money. Thus, while planning for retirement, it&#...

Easing inflation fuels hopes of soft landing Growth vs defensive assets Global equities rose further in July despite continued upward pressure on bond yields as central banks retained firm policy tigh...

Since 2004 The ASFA Retirement Standard has served as Australia’s trusted retirement savings companion, providing a comprehensive breakdown of expenses for both a comfortable and modest lifestyle, f...

Recession averted? Global markets The key development over the past week was the weaker-than-expected US CPI result, which has reduced the risk of further aggressive Fed action that ultimately pushe...

What is AI? AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is a technology that helps machines understand and learn things, kind of like how humans do. It’s like giving computers the ability to think and make ...

Market Trends May: Debt Ceiling Concerns   Market Summary Growth and defensive asset returns were modestly negative in May as rising bond yields and concerns over a potential US debt default weig...

Federal Budget May 2023: What it might mean for individuals Overall, the Budget measures are unlikely to have a significant effect from a personal financial advice perspective, and many of the measure...

A strong April, but markets remain in a state of flux Market summary Both growth and defensive assets rose in April, with the latter outperforming the former due to moderate gains in both Australian a...

Market trends: Australia vs the world   Major asset class performance Hopes of a soft landing for the global economy – with inflation falling without the need for a recession – have supported...

Market Trends: Can the US pull off a soft landing?   Global bonds and equities: soft landing hopes boost returns An easing in global inflation and still resilient economic growth – despite aggr...

What happened in 2022? The COVID-19 pandemic finally started to become endemic in 2022, though it continued to cause issues in China. Despite this, the past year has been challenging for investors due...

ESG investing’ is a broad term that covers a range of activities. ESG itself is an acronym which stands for ‘environmental, social and governance’. So ESG investing is really any investment acti...

The slump in home prices continues After surging by 28.6% from their pandemic lows early this year to record highs on the back of record low interest rates, home prices are continuing to plunge on the...

Market Trends: pivot hopes return Major asset classes: Equities, bonds and cash Although global bond yields lifted modestly further and forward earnings slipped lower in October, global equities rebou...

Inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. It is measured as an annual percentage increase. When inflation rises, every dollar buys a...

Market trends: bonds and equities slide further Major asset classes: Equities, bonds and cash Both global bonds and equities fell further in September, with equity returns again weaker than that of bo...

Markets have moved with such speed and velocity in both directions since the beginning of the COVID outbreak it has been difficult for investors to adjust with so much conflicting information being ci...

Market Trends: Equities and bonds struggle After posting positive returns in July, both global bonds and equities fell back in August, with equity returns marginally weaker than that of bonds. The Blo...

Market Trends: Falling yields boost stocks Major asset classes: Equities, bonds and cash Global equities and bonds staged a rebound in July, with both outperforming cash. Emerging signs of weakening g...

Global Equity Fundamentals – valuations OK, but earnings now a risk After some consolidation in May, global equities weakened further in June. The MSCI All Country World Index declined by 7.4% in lo...

Global equities – stabilisation as bond yields level out Global equities continued to weaken in May, albeit with a smaller drop than evident in April – helped by tentative signs that the lift in g...

Global equities – rate fears return Global equity returns dropped back in April as fears of aggressive U.S. interest rate increases, China’s COVID-induced lockdowns and the ongoing war in Ukraine ...

Global Equities – March rebound Global equity returns enjoyed a modest 2.6% rebound in March, after a decline of 1.0% in February and a larger 6.1% decline in January. The rebound appears to reflect...

Cash injection to provide short-term cost relief We review the Australian Federal government’s 2022/23 budget and assess its implications for Australia’s financial markets. •This is a pro-growth...

On 29 March 2022, the Government handed down the 2022-23 Federal Budget. Whilst we know this is a pre-election Budget, with the next Federal election to be held in May 2022, it is possibly not a typic...

Key global market moves – war and rates hurt sentiment Global equity prices weakened a further 1.1% in February after a sharp 6.2% decline in January, as persistent global interest rate and inflatio...

Key global market moves – rate fears rattle stocks Global equities suffered a sharp fall in January as rising bond yields placed downward pressure on price-to-earnings valuations, especially among g...

Despite rising bond yields last year, the strong V-shaped recovery in global equity markets from the COVID crisis of early 2020 largely continued over 2021, powered by ongoing growth in corporate earn...

Key global market trends – rates and COVID spark concern Global equities suffered a setback in November reflecting concerns about both the Omicron COVID variant and a hawkish pivot by the U.S. Feder...

Global equities rebounded in October – despite a further lift in bond yields – as another strong U.S. corporate earnings reporting season and signs of peaking in the Delta outbreak supported sent...

Global equities suffered a setback in September as a rebound in bond yields dragged down still lofty price-to-earnings valuations. The key market development in the month was a more hawkish than expec...

Global equities rose 2.6% in August, and the outlook remains encouraging. Global forward earnings accounted for most of the increase in equity prices, rising 1.9%. Despite a renewed wave of global COV...

Global equities pushed higher in July, and the outlook remains encouraging. Despite a renewed wave of global COVID cases, rising vaccination rates have meant even fewer are ending up in hospital or dy...

An apparent easing of inflation concerns and central bank tightening fears were the major market drivers in June, along with continued progress in the global vaccine rollout and reduction in COVID-rel...

The global equity rally continued in May, with the MSCI All-Country World Equity Index returning 1.1% in local currency terms, to be up 38.4% over the year. Global bond yields and the $US eased back f...

With June 30 fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about your super for another year. We’ve put together five smart strategies that may benefit you now, and help boost your super. Superann...

The global equity rally continued in April, helped by an easing back in global bond yields as central banks reiterated their desire to keep accommodative financial conditions. A weaker $US also helped...

Last night the Federal Treasurer, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, delivered his third Federal Budget. Here’s a summary of some of the announcements that may impact you. Summary On the personal taxa...

Hedging to put simply is to limit your risks and in the context of currency, and for Australian investors, is to use financial instruments such as derivatives to negate the rise and fall of the Austra...

Gearing simply means borrowing money to invest. It can be used to enhance the overall returns on your money by allowing you to make a larger investment than would otherwise be possible. The borrowed m...

Value still holding up over growth Reflecting the improving economic outlook, global equities continued to move higher in March, though so too did bond yields. Commodity prices, by contrast, corrected...

Interest rates – a less orderly increase! After gradually increasing over recent months, long-term bond yields rose more sharply in February, with the U.S. 10-year rate rising 34 basis points (bp) t...

For many reasons, women face additional hurdles when it comes to achieving financial freedom. So it’s important to take control of your finances now, and be proactive when it comes to planning your ...

In part 1 of this series, we talked about investing in residential property (you can view the post here) now we take a better look at the other side of property investing, commercial property. Commerc...

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