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26 September 2026
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More Caveat Emptor, Chris Cuffe on the state of our industry, know the manager, performance fees, great returns in 2013 and Quality Investing
The funds management industry is undergoing consolidation and evolving rapidly, under pressure to provide better service and high returns while cutting costs. Chris Cuffe discusses the present and the future.
Poor management can quickly erode value, even in a good business, so it’s important to have confidence in the people pulling the levers.
Paying a high performance fee must be a good problem to have, as it must mean the fund manager has delivered outstanding performance, right? It's not always the case, and it pays to know how the fee is calculated.
As we near the end of 2013, it looks like this year has been a repeat of 2012 for shares in the major developed world stock markets - high returns plus super-low volatility.
Quality measures gained popularity after the burst of the dot com bubble and the spectacular failures of companies such as Enron and WorldCom, and more recently, the GFC. But how do we measure quality?
Conventional wisdom encourages retirees to preserve superannuation. But if those likely to qualify for the Age Pension later in life spend a little more today, it may deliver higher lifetime income and a more stable retirement.
Treasury’s latest CGT reform draft delivers a win for testamentary trusts and deceased estates, exempting estate-derived gains from the 30% floor. However, questions on death and divorce rollovers remain unresolved.
Reversionary pensions have long been a staple of SMSF estate planning, but are they still the best option? Meg Heffron revisits a once-clear favourite and asks whether changing super rules have shifted the balance.
For generations, Australian investors have backed banks, miners and dividends. But has that loyalty come at a cost? A look at the numbers raises an uncomfortable question about where future returns will come from.
The fight over testamentary trusts looked settled. Then the draft legislation arrived. Hidden in a technical detail is a question that could force many families to rethink wills they thought were already future-proof.
The 4% rule has long been retirement's gold standard. But after a difficult period for investors, fresh analysis suggests a more conservative approach may significantly improve the chances of making savings last.