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Here’s what you need to know today

• The big news from us here at Equity Mates: We have signed an agreement to be acquired by Betashares. The deal will see Betashares invest to grow the team and expand our range of content and educational resources. Don’t worry - we’re in it for the long-term, just now with the backing to do even more. (Read the full announcement here)
  
  

• With just a few days until Trump’s 90-day tariff pause expire on 9 July, America has announced a trade deal with Vietnam. Vietnam’s tariff will be lowered from 46% to 20% and in return American exports to Vietnam would be tariff free. (BBC)
  
  

• Tesla reported its largest ever year-on-year fall in car sales. For the second quarter of 2025, it delivered 384,122 cars globally, down 13.5% from the same quarter last year. (Reuters)
  
  

• Australian market darling Pro Medicus saw shares rise 6% after announcing two contracts in the US, together worth $190 million. The medical imaging company is up more than 1,000% in the past 5 years and is actively targeting US hospitals to continue growing. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Bumble’s founder and recently-returned CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd has acknowledged “dating apps are feeling like a thing of the past” as she justified the company eliminating 240 jobs in a cost-cutting exercise. (AFR)
  
  

• Design platform Figma has filled for an IPO in New York. The platform had previously agreed to be acquired by Adobe for US$20 billion, but was blocked by regulators. Figma is seen as a key rival to Canva, and the appetite for its IPO may give clues as to how Canva will be received. (AFR)
  
  

• At least 8 people have died in Europe as a record heatwave continues to effect much of the continent. The extreme heat has forced the closure of a nuclear reactor, triggered forest fires, and has seen four people die in Spain, two in France and two in Italy. (ABC News)
  
  

• America’s House of Representatives began debating Donald Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ after it narrowly passed the Senate. While Trump wants to sign the bill on the 4th of July, some House Republicans are unhappy about the deficit increases while others are unhappy about cuts to healthcare spending. (CBS News)
  
  

• Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit with Donald Trump, and will pay US$16 million in damages, after Trump claimed Paramount’s news arm CBS edited a 60 Minutes interview in Kamala Harris’ favour to tip the scales in her favour. Legal experts believe 60 Minutes was well within their first amendment rights, but the settlement comes after Paramount seeks government approval for a multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance Media. (ABC News)

What the…?

Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse dreams aren’t dying but they’re changing. A few weeks ago here we shared an article about the industrial metaverse. Now Meta is working to find military applications for their extended reality products.

The company is partnering with Anduril, led by Oculus-founder Palmer Luckey, to build technology to give soldiers enhanced vision and enable intuitive control of autonomous weapons. (Quartz)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

Ultimate dollar-cost average portfolio

Community Question: If I was to invest $1000 a month for the rest of my life, what should the ultimate portfolio / investment look like?

We put this question to Tristan Scifo, financial adviser at Purpose Advisory

When solving an important problem, ask the brightest minds you can find.

I identified Warren Buffet, Ray Dalio, Peter Lynch, and the Australian collective unconscious as the best 4 sources to answer this.

Professional Investor Responses

Warren Buffet is possibly the world's best investor, achieving an average return of 20% pa since 1965. Buffet recommends all investors buy low-cost, diversified index funds. In his will, his estate will be invested for his wife's benefit:

• 90% in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund and

• 10% in short-term government bonds

Ray Dalio launched and ran one of the world's top-performing hedge funds, which has returned on average 12% pa since 1975. Dalio proposed the well-known "All Weather" portfolio, designed to perform well across various economic environments:

• 40% long-term bonds

• 30% shares

• 15% intermediate-term bonds

• 7.5% gold

• 7.5% other commodities

Peter Lynch achieved an average return of 29% pa as manager of the Magellan Fund between 1977 - 1990, and wrote a number of investment education books. Lynch believes individual investors can gain an edge by spotting opportunities in their daily lives before Wall Street catches on. He doesn't provide a one-size-fits-all recommendation, but emphasizes looking for growth at a reasonable price, and warns against overly popular shares or sectors.

Where do most Australians invest?

The collective Australian unconscious proposes a different kind of answer. There are two dominant strategies which Australians consistently prefer for building wealth: Property and Super.

Property - Most Australians invest most of their wealth into property (primarily into their home), and for good reason. When you leverage the bank's money to buy a home which you love (i.e. a property other buyers will also love in future), buying either in or near a capital city, and when you stick with it for the long term, you're most likely to grow your wealth significantly. Concentrating wealth in the family home is still the most popular and most consistently successful wealth creation strategy for Australians.

Default Super - The next most common and successful strategy is Super. No matter how it's invested, the tax benefits of contributing to and building wealth in super are hard to beat. The majority of member’s super funds are invested primarily in the default MySuper option of their fund, which is invariably a simple, done-for-you, actively managed fund with a reasonable fee and lots of diversification.

It's all about the Execution

Successful investors know NOT to worry about finding the perfect strategy, but focus instead on effective execution. There are no $million-dollar ideas, there’s only $million-dollar execution.

Creating the 'ultimate portfolio' comes down to firmly in sticking with a strategy over the long term, more than in optimising your percentage allocation.

A Financial Adviser’s Tips

I’ll leave you with my 3 simple rules I share with clients to help them choose a strategy that works best for them:

• 1a. Make investing fun - choose a strategy you'll enjoy setting up and managing, even 5 years from now. Investments should add joy to your life.

• 1b. Don't make investing a drain - being consistent with your strategy requires you to not hate the work. Automate or outsource the parts you don’t enjoy (where practical) and cultivate a winner’s attitude.

• 2. Make it simple - complexity breeds mistakes, confusion and energy drain. Good strategies become increasingly complex over time, but a great strategy should be simple enough to explain to a child.

• 3. Leverage your expertise - You have unique money-making talents. Learn what you could be best in the world at, sharpen these skills You don't need to hands-on, but you do need to at least understand your strategy in depth, and know how to adapt it over time

Interested in speaking to a financial adviser? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll match you with an adviser that suits your needs.

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