Here’s what you need to know today

• Australian regulator APRA has warned the banks they may need to rein in lending to property investors. Reserve Bank data released on Friday shows investor lending has risen at its fastest pace since June 2015. This comes as house prices in the capital cities hit record highs after rising for 11 consecutive quarters - the longest stretch of continuous quarterly growth since 2015. (AFR)
  
  

• Move over Big 4 Banks, Australians will need to start saying Big 5. Macquarie’s retail banking arm continues to take market share. In September, it grew its mortgage book and deposits at 3x the pace of Commonwealth Bank. Macquarie now has 6.5% of Australia’s mortgage market and 5.5% of Australia’s deposits market. (AFR)
  
  

• Warren Buffett’s cash pile keeps growing. Berkshire Hathaway, the company run by the 95-year-old investing legend, has reported third-quarter earnings highlighted by $381 billion in cash. (FT)
  
  

• Apple and Amazon reported earnings on Friday. Apple had a mixed-result with revenue and profit beating estimates but iPhone sales coming up short. Amazon shares jumped 10% after it beat expectations and reported accelerating growth in its AWS division. (Yahoo Finance)
  
  

• The US strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats were in the news over the weekend. The UN Human Rights chief called these strikes, which have killed at least 61 people, a violation of international law. Meanwhile President Trump denied a Wall Street Journal report that the US was considering striking land targets inside Venezuela. (NY Times | WSJ)
  
  

• Australia and Turkey are reportedly at loggerheads over the hosting of the 2026 global climate summit, COP31. Australia would like to host the event in Adelaide, but must have unanimous support which Turkey is refusing. If no deal is reached, the summit will be in the German city of Bonn. (AFR)
  
  

• Australia’s National Party has removed Net Zero as part of its party platform. The party’s Federal Council voted to remove the policy over the weekend and it is expected to be agreed to by the National’s members of parliament this week. (ABC)
  
  

• Australia and Canada have signed a deal for cooperation in critical minerals. This comes after Australia signed a similar deal with the US. China dominates many critical minerals, including refining 90% of rare earths, and Western nations are scrambling to develop alternative sources. (AFR)
  
  

• China said it is on track to land astronauts on the moon by 2030. This came as the country sent 3 astronauts - and four mice - to its Tiangong space station. Amongst them is Wu Fei, China’s youngest ever astronaut at 32 years old. Dutch Oliver Daemen remains the youngest person to go to space at just 18 years old. (ABC)
  
  

• France’s parliament rejected a proposed wealth tax. The tax would have charged 2% annually to individuals with assets over €100m. (Reuters)

What the…?

If you’ve ever felt yourself getting dumber as you scrolled social media, you’re not alone. Researchers from Texas A&M have just published a paper ‘LLMs can get “Brain Rot”!’ where they showed the impact social media can have on AI.

The researchers created two social media feeds, one with junk and another with higher quality information. They found the 4 LLMs trained on the junk feed demonstrated declines in reasoning, contextual understanding and safety while also showing increases in “dark traits” such as psychopathy and narcissism.

A timely reminder to think about the information we’re training our own brains on. (Wired)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today

How should couples integrate their finances?

This is an excerpt from an Equity Mates Investing episode with Alex Luck & Scott Taylor, financial advisers and cofounders of Everest Wealth. (Apple | Spotify | YouTube)

Question: How should couples start working together financially, and what are common mistakes when merging portfolios?

Obviously one way is to liquidate and repurchase, but then you’ve got potential capital gains considerations and brokerage costs. The other option is an in-specie transfer, but again, that doesn’t avoid the capital gains of changing ownership, and a lot of platforms will charge an in-specie transfer fee per security.

I think there’s no harm in just keeping your portfolios as is if you’re on a platform that doesn’t have admin fees. Then just direct new money to where you want that to go.

Another consideration is, are you doing joint accounts just for visibility purposes or is it tax reasons? Because a lot of the time we see people come to us and they’ve invested money in the higher income earning spouse’s name when it would normally be better to invest in the lower income earning spouse’s name. Maybe just use the accounts already established in that lower income spouse’s name and just give access to one another.

Want to check out the full interview? Watch it on the Equity Mates YouTube channel:

A message from Fidelity

Over the past two decades, Asia has evolved from the world’s manufacturing hub into a dynamic region of innovation, affluence, and ambition. With tech startups booming and a rising middle class reshaping consumption, the next big investment story may already be unfolding.

Just as India was once overlooked, can investors afford to miss the next evolution of Asia?

Issued by FIL Responsible Entity (Australia) Limited, ABN 33 148 059 009, AFSL No. 409340. This is general information only and is not intended to be advice of any kind. Consider the PDS and TMD available at www.fidelity.com.au

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