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Edition 40

  •   15 November 2013
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Welcome from Chris Cuffe

Even if you're flat out busy, taking a few minutes to read Phil Ruthven and Jack Gray is always time well spent. And we throw in Maxsted, Neilson and Owen for good measure.

Phil Ruthven is Australia's foremost strategist and futurist on business and social matters. He believes we focus too much on short term consumer confidence, and our emotions need to face facts from time to time. In Australia, things are rarely as grim as they seem.

We all spend a lot of time at conferences, and I've been to hundreds, varying from dreadful to wonderful. The worst are thinly-disguised self promotions, conveying basic information while most people doodle or check their smartphones. The best have 'aha! moments', where you want to take notes and share great ideas.

We have insights from three conferences this week, in Boston, Macau and Sydney.

Jack Gray, recently voted one of the Top 10 most influential academics in the world for institutional investing, says if you can pick up just one gem, then attending is worthwhile. In Boston, it was hearing a central banker admitting they know not what they are doing. We're in the middle of a massive economic experiment. And the revealing insight that an economy is more like an evolving, adapting biological organism, not a science.

Ashley Owen presented to Asian family offices in Macau, and explains how the new wealth of our neighbours is being invested and managed. It partly explains our current property mania to hear that this year's high profile attraction was Australian residential real estate. Prior year fads of gold, wine and small mining companies have left many scars. A lesson there?

And Graham Hand attended a Morningstar conference aimed at retail investors, and nobody from the big end of town was in the audience. They missed important comments from the Chair of Westpac, Lyndsay Maxsted, and one of the doyens of Australian funds management, Kerr Neilson.

Finally, Ashley takes a look at the type of trading day on the stock exchange that is becoming all too common. When the US releases good economic statistics, the market sells off, because of a fear of a tapering of quantitative easing. It's crazy stuff. The market is so hooked on Fed drug injections that it can't recognise when the patient is feeling better.

Chris

Latest posts from Cuffelinks, 15 Nov 2013, Edition 40

  • There’s too much confidence in confidence surveys Phil Ruthven
  • In Boston, new ideas and evolving organisms Jack Gray
  • In Macau, new Asian money and Australian property Ashley Owen
  • In Sydney, insights from Maxsted and Neilson Graham Hand
  • A day in the life of theory versus practice Ashley Owen

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  •   15 November 2013
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