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Home / Author: Alan Hartstein

Alan Hartstein

Some active managers succeed while the majority struggle

According to S&P, the majority of active managers continue to underperform their benchmarks. However there are sectors where active styles perform well, and many managers justify their fees.

Lack of policy direction hurting renewables

The renewables industry is hampered by the combination of a shallow venture capital market and capital-intensive technology. The recent power outages in South Australia did not help.

Investor surveys highlight opportunities for financial advisers

Improving financial literacy and capitalising on the changing investment trends of SMSF trustees, are big opportunities for financial advisers, according to two recent surveys.

Finding beneficial tax alternatives to super

If contribution caps and lifetime limits on superannuation are getting in the way of long-term savings goals, there are other tax-effective alternatives available, especially investment bonds for higher income earners.

Deriving an effective retirement income

The wealth industry's focus on building retirement savings to a defined asset value should be replaced by aiming for a sustainable income level, argues Nobel Laureate Robert Merton.

Latest Updates

Economy

Why have Australian living standards 'fallen' and how do we fix it?

For the last few years there has been much talk of a 'cost-of-living' crisis in Australia and of 'falling living standards'. Lately this has flared up again with the pickup in inflation resulting in a renewed fall in real wages.

Latest from Morningstar

Four options for an income investor’s next dollar

What if Australia’s golden age of dividends is ending? Rather than overhaul your portfolio, it may be worth considering where new capital can work harder. I discuss four income strategies and the trade-offs behind each.

Taxation

Completing the reform of CGT: tax real losses like real gains

Recent CGT reforms tax real gains by indexing capital gains to inflation. However, the reform fails to index losses, leading to higher tax on assets that do not keep pace with inflation, creating inefficiencies in the tax system.

Investment strategies

Blockbuster AI debt issuance coming to a bond market near you

With Australia likely to attract a growing share of AI-related issuance, investors should prepare for increasing influence from AI funding demands, evolving credit fundamentals and changing valuation dynamics.

Investment strategies

Active managers: Bringing a gun to the gunfight

When data arrived, basketball abandoned the mid-range shot, Formula 1 reinvented the pit stop and chess embraced humans working with machines. Active managers confronting today's markets may learn from the same path.

Retirement

What Australian super funds can learn from the UK

Most people want answers to three retirement questions: What have I got? Is it enough? What can I do with it? A leading UK pension innovator shares his lessons on helping members better understand and prepare for retirement.

Investment strategies

What the market may be missing in FY27

We asked ten fund managers the same question following FY26. While their investment styles differ dramatically, their answers revealed several surprising areas of agreement about where markets may be heading next.

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