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8 October 2025
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The growing divide between retirement expectations and reality is undermining Australians’ retirement confidence. The good news? Vanguard’s 2025 How Australia Retires report identifies 5 key steps that could more than double your retirement confidence.
The quant winter was a two‑year period from 2018-20 when quant funds underperformed. This was largely a Developed Markets effect, with Australia also affected. In the last few years we've seen strong quant factor performance which raises the question of whether a quant winter could recur.
Reporting season is stressful, but for Johnny Russell (Portfolio Manager, Yarra Global Share Fund), it also serves as a reminder of the importance of stepping back to reflect on broader themes shaping the world around us.
Schroder's forecasts show that the market for continuation investments, also known as GP-led secondaries, is set to more than quadruple over the coming decade, driven by a combination of buy-side demand and structural supply-side growth drivers.
Similar to Nixon in 1971 and Reagan in 1985, Trump believes America cannot rebalance trade without a dramatically weaker currency. This paper discusses the likley implications for investors.
Fixed income remains well positioned in the face of a challenging market environment, but global diversification is as critical as it has ever been.
UniSuper’s inaugural Retire with Purpose report delves deep into the Australian retirement landscape—where it’s come from, where it is now, and where it’s heading.
The Heffron SMSF 2025/26 Facts and Figures document has been finalised and is available as a free download. Keep it on-hand to access the most recent information to stay up to date.
Instead of responding impulsively to short-term market risks, investors should take a step back and explore opportunities to strengthen overall portfolio diversification and shore up the resilience of investment cash flows.
Australia is one of only a handful of leading OECD countries where there is more money held in savings accounts than in capital market investments. Vanguard's proposed retail investment reforms aim to drive more Australians to invest their savings and achieve greater financial security.
A second quarter of significant investment in gold-backed ETFs, along with elevated bar and coin buying, drove total Q2 gold demand up 3% y/y to 1,249t. Meanwhile, jewellery consumption weakened further in the face of record gold prices.
Gold rose 26% in H1 2025, outpacing major asset classes. As we look forward, consensus expectations of macroeconomic drivers suggest that gold may remain range-bound in H2 with the possibility of some upside.
This AI cycle feels less like a revolution and more like a rerun. Just like fibre in 2000, shale in 2014, and cannabis in 2019, the technology or product is real but the capital cycle will be brutal. Investors beware.
An explosion in low-skilled migration to Australia has depressed wages, killed productivity, and cut rental vacancy rates to near decades-lows. It’s time both sides of politics addressed the issue.
LICs are continuing to struggle with large discounts and frustrated investors are wondering whether it’s worth holding onto them. This explains why the next 6-12 months will be make or break for many LICs.
Australian housing’s 50-year boom was driven by falling rates and rising borrowing power — not rent or yield. With those drivers exhausted, future returns must reconcile with economic fundamentals. Are we ready?
Younger Australians think they’ll need $100k a year in retirement - nearly double what current retirees spend. Expectations are rising fast, but are they realistic or just another case of lifestyle inflation?
This week, I got the news that my mother has dementia. It came shortly after my father received the same diagnosis. This is a meditation on getting old and my regrets in not getting my parents’ affairs in order sooner.