Never count your chickens...until the last day of the year: A sober call from US Federal Reserve chair, Jay Powell, has cooled US markets this week while on the ASX the biggest float of the year - DigiCo- has been an initial flop. But, hey, we are still looking at double-digit returns for investors in 2024...and that will do nicely.

Financial adviser James Gerrard joins wealth editor James Kirby in the final regular episode of 2024.

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In today's show, we cover

* A wrap for 2024 on listed investment markets 
* Cash, gold and Bitcoin - what we learnt 
* Super returns for 2024 
* Why it's time to start thinking about the 'black swan' 

 

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Call it key person risk - or perhaps ' key person opportunity': Either way, the personality of the CEO is crucial to the operation of most top stocks on the ASX.
The Australian has just released its annual CEO survey - let's hear what the CEOs are saying about the year ahead.

Associate editor Business Eric Johnston joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover:

* "Cautious optimism' - Top CEOs look forward to the coming year 
*  Banking on lending more - Financial CEOs wait for rate cuts
*  Copper Call - Will this future-facing metal matter more than iron ore?
*  What just happened at DigCo - and what does it mean for A-REITs

 

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Can the US possibly repeat its bumper returns again in 2025? 
Well, the pundits tell us that US markets will return at least twice the total return from the ASX next year…so, why not?

Tim Mackay of Quantum Financial joins wealth editor in this episode.

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In today’s episode, we cover:

* The US share market prospects for the Aussie investor
* Bond ETFs…maybe this time!
* What did you do with your tax cuts? 
* Getting a better deal on super for a couple 

 

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The inbox at [email protected] is not going to get cleared by Xmas if we don't do something soon!  Here's a collection of our recent correspondence. 

Stuart Wemyss of Prosolution Private Clients joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover:

* The 40-year mortgage - good news or bad news? 

*  Centrelink and gifting a stake in your property 

*  Property trusts and the arrival of datacentre float DigiCo

*  What defines  a 'distressed property sale' 

 

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There were 30,000 advisers in Australia and there are 15,000 today. Worse still, there are only a teeny number of new recruits joining the sector each year. 
Big Super may provide a breakthrough with its plan for specialised in-house advisors, but will they be any good?

Advisor Nathan Fradley joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover 
* Finding a financial advisor in a shrinking market 
* Will your super fund be able to offer good advice?
* What is debt recycling ?>
* CGT and retirement

 

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It does not take long for distressed sales to appear in a soft property market: In Sydney and Melbourne there is now clear weakness in inner-city apartment markets.
But can an investor make money here?

Louis Christopher of SQM Research joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover:

* Soft spots in the metropolitan centres 
* Why Brisbane and Perth may hold up in 2025
* Off-the-plan risks reappear 
* When one-bedroom units make sense

 

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Call it a surprise if you like: But the unexpected, highly irregular, badly drafted new super tax is off the agenda: What's more, it's unlikely to reappear in anything like its current shape.  Then again, a parliamentary logjam has also ensured the big breakthrough on financial advice - where super funds would come into the game in a major way - is also petrified in a political deadlock. At least we can start investing with a teeny bit of certainty from here.

Aleks Vickovich of the Conexus Financial group joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover

* What happened to the new $3m super tax 
* Financial advice from big funds gets kicked into touch 
* How paying $5000 a year for financial advice makes sense 
* Should you be involved in private credit ?

 

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You can already use funds from an SMSF to buy an investment property. But what if you could use money from your Big Super fund to buy a home?  It's hardly a radical idea in an economy where you can take money out of super for cosmetic surgery!

Simon Jones of HomeSuper joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover:

* The plan to tap Big Super for home buyers 
* SMSF opportunities in property 
* The government's Shared Home Equity scheme is ready to go
* Are house prices really falling? 

 

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Need some advice about advice? At The Australian, we have expanded our annual roll call of the best advisers: The List: Top 150 Financial Advisers is out this week.

To mark the occasion I'm joined by an adviser who has managed to make the list every year since it was launched in 2017. Will Hamilton of Hamilton Wealth Partners joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover

* How to find a top financial adviser 

* What an adviser is looking for when they meet you

* If the industry is thriving, why are there no new recruits?

* Are all traditional ETFs the same ?  

 

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The Big Super funds are having a woeful run of high-profile cock-ups where customers have been let down by inept management procedures: Led by Cbus, the roll-call includes ART, Hesta and Unisuper. At what point do investors need to be concerned about failings in their super fund? 

James Gerrard of www.financialadviser.com.au joins wealth editor James Kirby in this episode.

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In today's show, we cover 

* Big Super's bad management 
* The realities of switching  super funds 
*  Commercial property triggers tough times for super sector
*  Are property trusts really turning the corner?

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