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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.

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Ranking three common retirement strategies

The defining challenge of retirement isn't just about building wealth, it's about converting your lifetime savings into sustainable income. A holistic understanding of different strategies can improve long-term outcomes.

Economy

Was life really better in the good old days?

Are we worse off than previous generations? Lately, there seems to be a heightened level of angst that economic conditions are getting harder and that the two-party political system (and maybe democracy too) is failing voters.

Retirement

Australia has saved $4.5 trillion for retirement. Here's what matters more

Most Australians approaching retirement can tell you the exact dollar value of their super account. But success depends on more than a sizeable balance. Here's four key questions to ask yourself at the start of the financial year. 

Who gains in an AI-supercharged economy?

AI is already reshaping the economy, but companies building transformative technologies rarely capture the greatest long-term value. Instead, those benefits accrue to the users. We may well see this pattern reproduced. 

Taxation

Div 296's million-dollar reset worth $25,000

The 'cost base reset' for the new super tax is being sold as protection for pre-July gains. A worked example shows $1M of protection is worth about $25,000, and the real deadline has not passed.

Latest from Morningstar

The forecasting fix that Wall Street missed

Asking whether markets are overpriced may be the wrong question. New research suggests that traditional valuation metrics used to forecast returns may have been misread. Here are five takeaways for investors.

Investment strategies

Should a fund manager invest their own money differently?

Investors often like the idea that fund managers should invest client money exactly as they invest their own. But reality is more complicated. Unique circumstances make a different approach rational and, at times, beneficial.

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