Here’s what you need to know today

• Trump praises Aussie-style super. US President Donald Trump described Australia’s Superannuation system as a good scheme that supports working people. He stated that he is open to a similar policy and is seriously looking at it. (AFR)

• OpenAI goes ‘code red’ over competition. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is feeling the pressure as rivals Google and Anthropic catch up with their own AI products. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a “code red” in an internal memo, stating “we are at a critical time for ChatGPT”. Rival Anthropic has engaged IPO lawyers as it races OpenAI to be the first to go public. (FT)

• Australian GDP disappoints. Australia’s economy expanded less than forecast, with GDP growing only 0.4% in the quarter ended in September. This quarter’s GDP growth was less than last quarter’s 0.7% GDP growth and was driven mostly by data centre spending and the housing boom. (AFR)

• Tobacco taxes hurt Metcash, boost illegal trade. Metcash, the supplier behind IGA, has reported a $345 million dollar fall in tobacco revenue for the six months ended in October. The government has increased the tobacco excise by more than 280% since 2013, driving up the cost of a 25-pack of cigarettes to roughly $50. High prices are decreasing demand and creating a profitable illicit market. (Smart Company, AFR)

• Deloitte partner quits over AI-riddled report. The partner responsible for the infamous Deloitte report that was full of AI-generated mistakes is leaving the company. The report had dozens in incorrect citations and hallucinated errors. The Department of Finance is now checking all of Deloitte’s work for the public service. (AFR)

• Billionaire gives US$6.3 billion to US kids. American tech billionaire Michael Dell and his wife Susan announced they will deposit $250 into investment accounts for 25 million US children living in areas where median household income is under $150,000. These funds will go into so-called “Trump accounts”, set up for children born between the start of 2025 and the end of 2028. (NYT)

• US VC battles Airwallex over China ties. A member of the PayPal mafia, Keith Rabois, has accused Australian payments start-up Airwallex of being a “Chinese backdoor into sensitive American data”. Airwallex co-founder says these claims are inaccurate and that Rabois should post any evidence he has. (AFR)

• Shopify outage creates anger, losses. Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify may have caused billions of dollars of losses when an outage occurred on Cyber Monday. Customers experienced checkout issues in what Shopify stated was a “system degradation”. The company facilitated $11.5 billion of sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year. (NBC)

• Costco takes Trump tariffs to court. Retail giant Costco is the latest large company suing the Trump administration over tariffs. The Supreme Court is currently deciding if Trump’s tariffs are legal and Costco could secure a tariff refund if they are found to be illegal. (NPR)

• Prada buys Versace in latest luxury consolidation. Italian fashion brand Prada has acquired rival Versace in a €1.25 billion deal. This comes as the luxury market is seeing a wave of consolidations and acquisitions as luxury spending weakens. L'Oréal-Aesop, L'Oréal-Kering, and Steve Madden-Kurt Geiger are some of the most recent consolidations. (ABC)

• Sweeney boosts American Eagle sales. Despite negative press received earlier this year, the American Eagle campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney seems to have paid off. American Eagle has forecasted sales growth of between 8% and 9% for the fourth quarter. It also recently reported third-quarter revenue of $1.4 billion, beating Wall Street’s expectations. (FT)

What the…?

Oil company BP has given up on plans to build a hydrogen and carbon capture facility in England after ministers declared the site an AI growth zone. Instead of reducing greenhouse gases, the site in Teesside is planned to become Europe’s largest data centre at nearly 500,000 square meters.

England’s AI growth zones receive preferential treatment including bureaucratic fast tracking and prioritised energy to meet the massive energy needs of data centres. The first such zone, located in Oxfordshire, has drawn criticism for its heavy water usage in an already water-stressed area. The government has announced an additional two zones in Wales. (FT)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today

Core and Satellite for your first $5,000

These are insights from a recent episode of Get Started Investing, where Simon and Ren discussed the importance of the Core and Satellite approach for new investors.
(Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

Ren: “Core and satellite is a philosophy that we're strong believers in. And what it says is that the core of your portfolio, the majority of your money should be in investments that just buy a little bit of everything and take the overall market return.”

As a new investor, the Core and Satellite strategy is great for achieving a portfolio that agrees with your risk appetite. This strategy typically consists of a low-risk Core and a higher-risk Satellite that allows investors to try to outperform the market based on their personal preferences.

A Core consists of diversified investments that should broadly replicate the returns of the market. These are typically index funds or ETFs that provide diversification at a low cost. Conservative investors will have a Core that makes up well over half of their portfolio, but the balance is a personal preference.

A Satellite is where investors might do their own research and pick investments they believe will outperform the market. These often consist of individual stocks of companies they like, as well as higher-risk thematic ETFs that focus on specific industries.

Simon & Ren break down the Core and Satellite strategy on the latest episode of Get Started Investing, where they answer they question of how they would invest their first $5,000 if they had to do it all again right now. You can check out the full podcast on Spotify or Apple, or you can watch it on YouTube. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

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