Enjoy this email? We’d love you to forward it to someone else who may enjoy it.

Forwarded this email? You can sign up here. 

Here’s what you need to know today

• Over the weekend both sides of politics announced policies targeting first home buyers. Labor announced plans to build 100,000 new homes exclusively for first home buyers and to allow all first home buyers to buy with a 5% deposit without lenders mortgage insurance. The Coalition announced for the first $650,000 of a mortgage, interest payments would be tax deductible for first home buyers buying new homes. Today both sides of politics hit the road to promote these policies with Peter Dutton’s 20-year-old son Harry taking centre stage. (AFR)
  
  

• The US-China trade war continues to escalate. One day after giving semiconductors and consumer electronics an exemption from tariffs, US President Trump posted “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations. What has been exposed is that we need to make products in the United States, and that we will not be held hostage by other Countries, especially hostile trading Nations like China” (Truth Social)
  
  

• In response, China has announced restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals that are critical to manufacturing electronics - which these days go into everything from computers to cars to warships. China is responsible for almost 70% of global production of rare earth minerals. (AFR)
  
  

• In Ukraine, the American-brokered ceasefire on attacks on energy infrastructure did not last long as attacks continue on both sides. The US appear to be losing patience, with Trump’s chief negotiator Steve Witkoff passing a message to Russia to “get moving” on a ceasefire deal. (ABC News)
  
  

• The American government’s antitrust trial against Meta goes to court this week. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accuses Meta of illegally reinforcing its monopoly by buying Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 and is seeking an order to break the company up. Meta, in reply, challenges the idea it has a monopoly pointing to fierce competition from TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. (BBC)
  
  

• “Could be the next Cochlear or ResMed”. That was the high praise being heaped on Australian medical device maker EBR Systems after receiving FDA approval to sell its wireless heart pacing system in the US. Biotechnology is never a smooth ride, as evidenced by the fact that the stock actually fell 17% on the day of the approval, as early investors cashed out. (AFR)
  
  

• DroneShield had a good day after a tough year. The Australian counter-drone technology company announced 5 new contracts with a military customer in the Asia-Pacific and shares jumped 16%. (Capital Brief)

What the…?

In your dystopian news of the day, the UK government is developing a ‘murder prediction programme’ which it hopes to be able to analyse the personal information of Britons and determine which of those are at the greatest risk of committing a serious violent crime.

Civil society groups are up in arms, particularly because data would be collected on people who haven’t committed any crime. While the government argues it will improve public safety and make the justice system more efficient.

Most worryingly, what if the algorithm gets it wrong? Someone needs to rewatch Minority Report. (The Guardian)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

Looking for good quality assets

Community Question: When you hear experts speak about buying ‘good quality’ investments on the podcast, what do they mean by that? Is there criteria for ‘good quality’?

We put this question to Charlie Viola, financial adviser and founder of Viola Private Wealth

Charlie: I often say to clients that we have three fundamental things that we want to tick the boxes of in terms of the assets that we buy.

One, we want the assets to be producing revenue for them.

We want the assets to be producing income or at least have the ability to generate revenue over a period of time.

Secondly, we don't want to blow up the capital.

We don't want to be buying things that have got high risk of impairment. I look at risk very differently to what some people do. Some people look at risk in terms of asset allocation and growth assets and, you know, income assets or defensive assets.

I don't look at it that way. I look at risk in terms of the risk of impairment. So not so much the risk of it going up and down, but the risk of it actually turning to dust.

I take the view that large cap defensive equities are actually a defensive asset. Yeah, they change in value, but they're going to be there tomorrow. And if they've got good balance sheets, they’re well-run, they've got good competitive advantages, they're going to have an ability to generate revenue into the future. So buy those types of assets.

The third one is, make sure that you're protecting the buying power of your money over time.

You absolutely want to have more growth assets in your portfolio because you want the revenue that that asset can produce to increase over a period of time, not reduce.

You want to make sure that, you know, if you're buying any company or any portfolio, if it's generating a dollar today in earnings, you want it to have the ability to generate a dollar ten next year and a dollar 20 the year after, and 30 the year after, so that you can protect the buying power of your money.

Interested in speaking to Charlie or being matched with one of our hand-picked financial advisers? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll put you in touch.

Today’s sponsor is Centuria

Put the power of property to work for you.

Investing with a specialist property fund manager like Centuria gives you access to attractive commercial property investment opportunities that go beyond traditional sectors, without needing large amounts of upfront capital or taking on the work of managing tenants and properties.

Offering a choice of unlisted property funds, listed property funds and real estate debt funds, our range of options make it easy for you to find an investment that matches your individual goals and risk appetite.

So whether you are a seasoned property investor or just starting out, there is a Centuria property fund for you.

Want more Equity Mates?