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23 August 2026

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Edition 19

  •   14 June 2013
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Welcome from Chris Cuffe

I recently gave the keynote address at a Morningstar Conference and stayed for many of the other presentations. I especially enjoyed a talk on global fund trends by Scott Burns, and he agreed to write an exclusive summary for Cuffelinks.

Notable trends include the continuing strong growth of managed funds despite everything we read about direct investing, the flows out of equity funds into fixed interest, the rise of passive or index funds and the decline in fund commission payments. Most of these point to lower fees for investors, although the index and equity trends are not as pronounced in Australia.

It's that time of year when most of us should pause to think about our tax planning, and Ray Cummings provides hints on what to check. There are some things that simply must be done on or before Friday 28 June.

We all like to think we are rational investors, but Jim McKay reminds us that we are subject to biases such as loss aversion, herding and anchoring that drive our investment decisions. I meet many fund managers who claim they can control these instincts but then they live on a knife-edge reacting to short-term events. And David Bell continues his short series on the importance on measuring performance and variability in real (inflation-adjusted) not nominal terms, and shows that the worst value destruction occurs in periods of high inflation.

The wealth management industry relies on trust and confidence, and the Banking and Finance Oath is an important Australian industry initiative which I support. We are keen to encourage people to sign up, but Graham Hand believes there are challenges to overcome for the Oath to gain widespread acceptance.

Chris

Latest posts from Cuffelinks, 14 Jun 2013, Edition 19

 

  • Understand yourself before you understand the market Jim McKay
  • Health check for end-of-year tax planning Ray Cummings
  • An overview of global fund investment trends Scott Burns
  • Historical real return outcomes based on current portfolios David Bell
  • The Banking and Finance Oath is a tough ask Graham Hand

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  •   14 June 2013
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