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David Bell

Are lifecycle funds appropriate for MySuper products?

The Stronger Super reforms have significantly raised the profile of lifecycle funds by legitimising their use as a single investment strategy for MySuper products. But are lifecycle funds any better than normal balanced funds?

How ASIC defines ‘hedge funds’ and what it means to you

ASIC's new definition of 'hedge funds' will have important ramifications for many industry participants, and may even affect PI insurance costs.

Mortality risk could be the death of you

It is unfortunate that super funds and financial planners spend far more time considering investment risk than mortality risk. In future, retirement savings must last much longer, and a study of mortality risk shows how long.

Don’t spend your career further exposing yourself

We should consider how our investment portfolio interacts with other risks in our lives, including not investing in shares of the company or the industry you are employed by.

Is APRA's Standard Risk Measure helpful?

Super fund Product Disclosure Statements now include a measure of risk called the ‘Standard Risk Measure’, or SRM, but it has some important shortcomings, especially ignoring the size of losses.

An introduction to lifecycle theory

Lifecycle theory is one of the more exciting and applicable research fields in financial academia yet it receives little discussion in Australia’s superannuation industry. The findings have the potential to improve outcomes for Australian households.

Latest Updates

The ultimate superannuation EOFY checklist 2026

Here is a checklist of 28 important issues you should address before June 30 to ensure your SMSF or other super fund is in order and that you are making the most of the strategies available.

Retirement

Two months into retirement

A retirement researcher's take on retirement and her focus on each of her six resource buckets to stay engaged during the transition and beyond.

Superannuation

Markets have always delivered for super fund members. What if they don’t?

What happens if market resilience in the face of ongoing geopolitical tensions ends? Potential decade-long market weakness shows the need for contingency planning.

Retirement

We tend to spend less in retirement …

Studies show that a drop in expenditure during retirement leads to a happier retirement. But when costs ramp up again later in life, it's a guaranteed income that makes spending more hurt less.

Shares

Can you value a share just using dividends?

A cow for her milk, a stock for her dividends. Investors are too quick to dismiss this valuation technique. 

Property

The 25-year property trust default is being questioned

The 33% CGT discount rate being floated isn’t random. It sits at the structural break-even between trust and company for the multi-property cohort. That’s driving the conversation we’re hearing now.

Investment strategies

Are active managers bringing a knife to a gunfight?

How passive investing has permanently changed market structure — and why sophisticated tools are now the price of survival.

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