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21 May 2022
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We often assign quality in investment choice by historical returns, backed up when we see fund flows directed towards such historically well-performing funds. This is a mistake made by investors and regulators.
If billions of dollars of retirement savings were lost by a government agency in a national super scheme, the cost and risk would be passed back to the government and ‘caveat emptor’ would be history.
With the Royal Commission Final Report a week away, and a new year stretching ahead of us, it's time for all market professionals to decide what they stand for, and call out bad behaviour that affects everyone.
After decades of intense work in financial markets, including Asia-wide responsibilities, a sabbatical walk along Spain's Camino led to an unexpected mix of superannuation insights and dealing with death.
With the strongest defensive assets earning close to zero and negative real returns, investors are looking at other ways to shock-proof their portfolios, but it invariably means taking on more risk.
Making a passive investment requires an active decision, and since index-based funds are structured using market prices, they build in influences of the active factor of price momentum.
Policy proposals allow young people to access their super for a home bought from older people who put the money back into super. It helps some first buyers into a home earlier but it may push up prices.
In this environment, safe-haven assets like Government bonds act as a diversifier given the uncorrelated nature to equities during periods of risk-off, while offering a yield above term deposit rates.
A key attribute of great investors is the ability to abstract away the specifics of a particular domain, leaving only the important underlying principles upon which great investments can be made.
The Transfer Balance Cap limits the tax concessions available in super pension funds, removing the need for large, compulsory drawdowns. Plus there are no requirements to draw money out of an accumulation fund.
Companies tend to pre-position weak results ahead of 30 June, leading to earnings downgrades. The next two months will be critical for investors as a shift from ‘great expectations’ to ‘clear explanations’ gets underway.
We may have been extremely unlucky with the unforgiving weather plaguing the East Coast of Australia this year. However, on the economic front we are by many measures in a strong position relative to the rest of the world.
Discounts on LICs and LITs vary with market conditions, and many prominent managers have seen the value of their assets fall as well as discount widen. There may be opportunities for gains if discounts narrow.