Here’s what you need to know today

• The fallout from the launch of Chinese AI model DeepSeek R1 continues. On Monday, 32 stocks in America’s Russell 1,000 fell by more than 10%, most of them related to AI infrastructure and data centres. Here’s a full look at the 32 stocks thanks the Bespoke Investment Group (click on the image to zoom in)

• Australia’s security services have warned that DeepSeek’s AI models pose a security risk similar to Chinese technology companies Huawei and TikTok. (AFR). This warning comes as DeepSeek tops App Store charts around the world. (Tech Crunch)
  
  

• Chemist Warehouse continues to report strong numbers ahead of an ASX-listing. For the past 6 months, the chemist giant reported sales of $5.2 billion, up 13%, and profit of $438 million, up 35%. Chemist Warehouse is expected to merge with ASX-listed Sigma Healthcare in February. (AFR)
  
  

• Google has announced it will update Google Maps in the US to show the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. This has come after President Trump ordered the US Government to use Gulf of America on all official government documents. (AFR)
  
  

• Uranium stocks had a bad day after Kazakhstan’s Inkai mine resumed production, increasing supply, and the release of DeepSeek R1 caused some investors to question assumptions about energy demand from AI data centres. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• The rising price of eggs was a big talking point in the US election. Bad news for President Trump as an ongoing bird flu outbreak has hit the US egg supply and prices continue to rise, with recent data showing a 65% price increase in December. (Quartz)

What the…?

Since COVID, QR codes have become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. We can see them all around us. Still we didn’t expect this novel use case: researchers glued tiny QR codes to the backs of tens of thousands of honey bees in an effort to understand how far they will travel to collect pollen.

A fascinating study, but we feel for the research assistants that would’ve been responsible for glueing the codes to the bees’ backs. (Gizmodo)

Enjoy this email? Help us make it even better in 2025!

Every year we survey the Equity Mates community as we plan the year ahead. The insights really do matter, last year it prompted us to move this email to daily, focus more on YouTube and develop a new show (more on that in the coming months).

So if you enjoy what we do, and want to help make it better, we have a request: help us by completing this year’s Equity Mates Community Survey (Survey Link).

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

Community Question: What's the best way to structure a home loan to minimise the interest repayments?

We put this question to Jacob McCudden, financial adviser at Back-to-Back Financial Planners.

Easy.

Borrow the least amount you can and repay it as fast as you can.

That’s it.

In practice there are many ways this can be achieved:

• Don’t overspend when buying a home – that is, don’t just borrow what the bank will lend, remember, it’s in their interest to lend you as much as they can, only the government is the one holding them back to “lend responsibility”. They are not your friend, they are not helping you out, they are selling you a financial product (i.e. a mortgage) and will be paid handsomely for it in the form of interest at your expense (literally). As an anecdote, they say when you buy a house you pay for it twice, once for the purchase price, and again on the interest you will pay to the bank over the life of the mortgage

Don’t believe me?

Average mortgage debt of about $600k, interest rate of 5%, loan term of 30 years… total repayments to the bank = $1,159,535 ($600k in principal, $559,535 in interest).

• Start by understanding how much of your household budget can be allocated to “housing”, ideally under 30%, but no more than 40%. Then you can easily work out what repayments you can afford and thus how much you can borrow, but also when you want to be “debt free”, ideally before retirement but potentially even earlier (so whilst it may be a 30-year mortgage, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be taking 30 years to pay it off)

• Don’t fall into the pressure of the bank/broker/real estate agent who all profit from the more you borrow and spend (easier said than done, I know, but this is most likely the biggest expense of your life, so it pays to take it extremely seriously and to do your homework)

• Then, once we’ve actually got the house and loan, you need to think about things like perhaps using offset accounts (if and when they make sense and they may not for everyone as loans with offsets generally come with a higher effective interest cost)

• More technical strategies could include debt recycling, which is where you leverage investment assets as a tool to slowly replace your “bad debt” (aka non-deductible debt like your mortgage) with “good debt” (aka deductible or investment debt), but these should be “advisable” before you embark on one.

• Seek advice! As really the only way to put together a strategy for your individual situation and help you decide what’s right for you is to speak with a financial planner who can develop a plan to help you achieve your financial goals (e.g. pay less interest over life of loan, pay of loan faster, be debt free, retire early, etc.)

Interested in speaking to a financial adviser? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll match you with one of our hand-picked financial advisers.

Today’s sponsor is Australian Property Scout

Join Sammy Gordon, Equity Mates’ regular property expert, in the studio with property investor Ella, who, at just 24 years old, has built a $2.4 million property portfolio. Ella has built a staggering $800,000 in equity starting from with $85k of her own cash.

This impressive 24 year old is the definition of perseverance and grit, having overcome and taken on multiple hurdles along her journey. This episode is packed with valuable insights as Ella shares her journey with Sam and breaks open the vault of information that allowed her to create such a strong position, starting with one deposit.

Tune in to Scouting Australia on all your favourite listening platforms. 

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