Category: News

For so long, a fixture of Australian life has been working towards the great Australian dream. It may be somewhat stereotypical in days of almost universal transformation of day-to-day life for modern Australian’s, yet aiming for a little slice of suburban paradise remains a singular constant, a fixed connective tissue that bridges an increasingly growing generational divide. 

Understanding disruption risk is one of the key drivers of avoiding underperforming businesses. This is critical in a world where most businesses are experiencing significant turbulence because of the disruptive effects of the most significant demographic shifts with 4.4bn millennials and centennials driving new consumption patterns.

Elon Musk’s satellite internet service has been given initial approval to operate in Australia. The approval is the first step for the American company to be able to offer its Starlink satellite network service to Australian users, which would create ripples in an otherwise monopolised market mainly dominated by New-Corps owned TV service Foxtel and government-owned NBN Co.

Think about what technology was like in the 1980s. Cassette walkmans were breakthrough technology. So-called mobile phones weighed almost a kilo. The original Macintosh cost $2500 and it got you a mindblowing 125KB of RAM. Now imagine that this technology occasionally sparked and caused serious injuries. It’s inconceivable that we’d still use this technology… isn’t it? 

According to an Australian Financial Review article last year, the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ is now the ninth largest lender in Australia, accounting for more than $29 billion in outstanding home loans. This makes it bigger than Bank of Queensland, HSBC Bank, Citigroup and Teachers Mutual Bank.

Many investors are concerned over potentially weak capital growth in Australian shares for the foreseeable future, and whilst the large cap ASX listed shares pay a fair dividend yield, we often get asked about using Options to generate additional returns.

Personalised medicine seems to be the way of the future; where patients receive tailored treatments to suit their individual needs and biometric traits. Medicine and healthcare have been slow to catch up with other sectors that have been personalising their offerings for a number of years now, primarily because of the complexity and regulatory considerations surrounding advances in medicine.

The uptake of smartphone-based credit cards is changing the way we use wallets. It’s predicted cash payments are to fall below 2% by 2022. Physical cards are also falling out of favour. As a result, younger people are now forgoing the traditional bifold wallet altogether, opting instead for smartphone cases with a few card sleeves.

Next week we have a placement for an exciting ASX technology business that’s winning huge contracts with some of the biggest and best companies on the planet.

The 2010s was the decade of big tech, smartphones, apps and the Internet. Social media blew up and evolved into more than just a space to chat with friends. Concepts such as influencer marketing, hashtag campaigns and “instagrammability” took the place of traditional marketing. 

High Grade Iron Ore Report Part 2. Could Australia ever become an energy superpower without a total reliance on natural resources? Economist Ross Garnaut suggests that this is a very real possibility. 

Interview with Steven Yatomi-Clarke, CEO of Prescient Therapeutics, on targeted medicine. Cancer has been on the public radar for many years now and, although several drugs exist to treat the disease, none of them are effective to the point of being a cure. In many cases, patients become resistant to traditional drugs and there’s a large group of patients that are virtually untreatable.