Wealth

Insights on wealth management, investments, and personal finance.

Wealth
ART: Retirement soft defaults key to productivity gains
Mega super fund, Australian Retirement Trust, is currently pushing for super industry reforms which revolve around some proposed “soft default” retirement product solutions with added flexibility and personalisation. While the notion of “soft default” retirement options is far from new, it’s not well understood by investors. Basically, the cohort arguing the need for “soft default” retirement product solutions believes it simply makes little sense to have a compulsory retirement system that switches to voluntary at the point of retirement. What the “soft default” brigade wants to see is an opt-out option, rather than the hard default, which is used in the accumulation phase. However, added flexibility and personalisation aside, the Australian Retirement Trust (ART) also argues that the soft default retirement options are integral to unlocking billions of dollars to Australia’s economic productivity, which the Reserve Bank believes is at an all-time low. If you’re not connecting the dots in ART’s argument, here’s their basic argument in a nutshell. Anne Fuchs, ART executive general manager for advocacy and impact claims there are millions of Australians around the country who aren’t taking up an income stream in reti
Wealth
Westpac sees no stress in sound quarterly result
Westpac Banking Corp has announced a 14% increase net profit after (NPAT) for the third quarter of the 2025 financial year (FY25). The Big Four bank said statutory NPAT was A$1.9 billion (US$1.2 billion) in the three months to 30 June 2025. NPAT excluding notable items related to hedging rose 8% to $1.9 billion on net operating income which increased 4% to $5.7 billion. Net interest income increased 4% to $5.0 billion, mostly due to the five basis point expansion of the net interest margin to 1.85%, and non-interest income gained 6% to $800 million, supported by stronger revenue from the Markets business.Source: WestpacThe bank reported growth in Australian housing loans, excluding the RAMS business, of 1%, business loans of 5% and institutional loans of 2%. Operating expenses rose 3% to $2.9 billion because of wage and salary growth, investment in bankers and the planned increase in the investment in the UNITE transformation initiative. "This quarter we delivered a sound financial result, while executing on our strategy and priorities,” Chief Executive Officer Anthony Miller said in an ASX announcement. “We grew strongly in business and institutional banking, while focusing on returns in Consumer and improving c
Wealth
Superannuation funds make smooth start to FY26
Australian superannuation funds generated a 1.5% return for median balanced options in the accumulation phase in July, according to SuperRatings estimates. The super research house said super funds had made a smooth start to the new financial year after increased volatility and a late rally in the last financial year. The July result was below the 1.9% return in the first month of the 2025 financial year (FY25), which produced a return of 10.1% over the full 12 months, marking the third successive year of strong investment performances. “Markets continue to tolerate increased volatility with both Australian and international share markets starting the new financial year with a positive return,” SuperRatings Director Kirby Rappell said in a media release. “Following the turmoil of the initial tariff announcements, markets continue to be taking news in their stride at present.” SuperRatings said the median growth option returned 1.8% and the median capital stable option 0.7% in the first month of FY26. Source: SuperRatingsPension returns in July were a little higher, with the median balanced pension option increasing by an estimated 1.6%, the media growth option 2.0% and the capital stable pension option 0.8% over the
Wealth
Bond flash: ANZ’s 20yr debt bullet draws A$3.1bn in bids
With the ASX200 nudging new all-time highs, investor interest in de-risking is being reflected in the growing interest fixed fixed-income offerings. Unsurprisingly, bond issuers are only too keen to ‘feed the ducks while they’re quacking’ and are responding in kind - which has seen a constant stream of new products come to market. Last week, ANZ Bank (ASX: ANZ) surprised the market, marketing the first of its kind – a 20-year Tier 2 subordinated debt bullet: A one-off maturity date after 20 years. It was part of a dual tranche offering along with a 15-year, non-call 10(15NC10) tranche. Unsurprisingly, the response was overwhelming with bids exceeding $5.5 billion, with ANZ issuing $1.5 billion – $750m for each tranche. Investors preferred the 20-year bullet, which garnered $3.12 billion in bids. ANZ revealed that more than 100 investors competed for the bullet alone. Margins tightened from 180 basis points (bps) over semi-quarterly swap for the 15NC10 and 200bps for the bullet to 168bps and 180bps, respectively. The bullet was especially attractive with the yield equivalent to 6.17%. The deal extends the major bank subordinated debt yield curve and paves the way for further long-dated bullet issuance.
Wealth
CBA delivers $10.25bn profit amid valuation concerns
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) delivered a cash profit of $10.25 billion and a $4.85 annual dividend for FY25, but analysts remain overwhelmingly bearish with the stock trading at over 30 times earnings compared to Big Four peers at 14-17 times. The 4% profit increase exceeded analyst expectations, supported by robust operational metrics across Australia's largest lender. The bank declared a final dividend of $2.60 per share, bringing total 2025 financial year (FY25) payouts to $4.85 - up 4% year-on-year. Net interest margins held steady at 2.08%, despite competitive deposit pricing pressures. Pre-provision profit rose 3% to $15.47 billion, while return on equity maintained market-leading levels at 13.5%. Credit quality strengthened significantly, with loan impairment expenses declining 9% to $726 million. Home loan arrears stabilised, with 85% of mortgage customers remaining ahead of scheduled repayments. “Despite global uncertainty, the Australian economy has remained resilient, with strong fundamentals including a healthy labour market, steady immigration and ongoing public sector investment,” CBA Chief Executive Matt Comyn said. “Even though sentiment remains subdued, we expect economic growth to

Wealth
Bonds to consider in wake of RBA rate cut
As was widely expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the official cash interest rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday to 3.60%. This marks the third rate cut of 2025 and the lowest level since April 2023. While the cut was by no means unexpected, what took the market by complete surprise was the tough-love narrative dished out by the central bank’s Governor Michele Bullock. In what was tantamount to the classic kiss-kick manoeuvre, Bullock followed up on the welcomed cut with a grim warning Australians to prepare for chronically lower growth in their living standards. The RBA Board has taken a scalpel to its productivity growth assumptions and is expecting annual productivity growth of a paltry 0.7% in 2028 and beyond. The RBA is also pointing to a downgrade for GDP, business investment and household income if poor productivity performance doesn’t improve. Key reasons behind Tuesday’s cut:Inflation Cooling: Headline inflation dropped to 2.1% in the June quarter, near a four-year low and at the bottom of the RBA’s target range. Core inflation (trimmed mean - excludes volatile price movements, which is especially useful as a measure when headline figures are distorted by temporary shocks like fuel or food
Wealth
How to work out the total returns of your shares
It is tempting to judge your stock-picking success on the rise or fall of the stock price at any given moment but it is important to remember that capital gains – the difference between the purchase price and what the stock is worth now – are not a complete picture of how your shares have generated returns within your portfolio. Ironically, while some investors are fixated exclusively on share price, another cohort - typically income-focused investors – can be singularly focused on income derived from myriad forms of corporate activity and virtually ignore share-price movements. A more definitive pictureHowever, a more complete way to gauge how a stock has performed over a specified time frame is to take what is called a total returns snapshot. It is not brain surgery -total return typically refers to the return from all sources, including capital gains and the all-too often overlooked income from dividends - and/or or other distributions to you the shareholder – within a single metric. This more holistic measure is also useful when wanting to compare investment returns among dividend-paying stocks, and how they rate with their non-dividend-paying counterparts. It can also help compare investment results when a stock
Wealth
Betashares expands with new Private Capital division
After launching its first Global Bond ETF early this month, Betashares is seeking to capitalise on growing investor and adviser demand for diversified portfolios of equities and bonds - offering compelling risk-adjusted returns – by opening a new Private Capital division. Having recognised that the Australian market has been underserved when it comes to high-quality global private asset options, Betashares initially flagged its plans to push into private markets earlier this year. Since then, Betashares has hired James Fleiter, a former relationship manager at Ares Management, to lead the development of its private assets offering. In response to the rising prominence of private markets among wealth managers and institutions, Betashares expects its private capital division to offer institutional-grade private market investment solutions - plus educational content - to Australian wholesale investors, financial advisers and their clients. To the uninitiated, private markets refer to the investment in the capital of privately owned companies versus publicly traded companies and typically includes asset classes like private credit, private equity, venture capital, private infrastructure, and private real estate. Given t
Wealth
Planners tread carefully amid rising financial stress
According to The National Mental Health Commission’s most recent “report card”, the cohort of Australians who find dealing with money stressful and overwhelming is on the rise. It found the proportion of people finding it “difficult” or “very difficult” to cope on their current income doubled from 17.1% in November 2020 to 34.6% in January 2024, while women consistently reported more financial stress than men. The study also found that the steady rise in financial stress is mirrored in the proportion of people in Australia delaying mental health care due to cost in the last four years. It’s younger generations, the report concludes, who continue to report heightened psychological distress and financial stress, and have a much higher prevalence of mental health challenges relative to the rest of the population. While much of this can be attributed the pressures of modern living, those facing mental health, drug, alcohol and/or gambling addictions can unwittingly be responsible for their own financial downfall. In light of this data, Azzet has provided some guidelines for seeking help from planners about your financial distress without forcing them to cross the Rubicon into the no-go areas of mentor or mental health