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8 October 2025
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The barbarians of buyouts have become the angels of alternatives: KKR is now one of the world's dominant alternate asset managers. Many investors are underestimating the vast opportunities in KKR’s addressable markets.
Investors frustrated by tedious fund application processes may benefit as asset managers look for ways to enhance their proposition and profit. Digital tokens are the next big thing as a way to represent ownership.
We asked about 30 fund managers to consider their entire investment process and drill down into what drives the most success, asking: “What part of your investment process has contributed most to identifying winners?”
Portfolio construction requires actions, not just words, based on expected returns, volatility and correlations. We have not seen sufficient pain to believe we are at the bottom of the equity cycle.
While ETFs and passive funds continue to attract flows, the move in the June 2022 quarter is to Australian equities and fixed interest. Local investors have reduced the impact of larger falls in global markets.
We often assign quality in investment choice by historical returns, backed up when we see fund flows directed towards such historically well-performing funds. This is a mistake made by investors and regulators.
Most active fund managers are the beneficiaries of a confluence of favourable events. As future strong returns look challenging, passive is rising and new investors do their own thing, a golden age may be closing.
An efficient diversified portfolio might include unfamiliar assets with short-term volatility. It's important to focus on a comfort level to attain the long-term benefits of diversification in a portfolio.
It’s worth deciphering how active 'active managers' are, whether their outperformance is sustainable, whether they cancel each other out and whether they are true to label. Know what you're paying for.
Big super funds are often crowded out from microcap opportunities due to limited capacity, leaving an opportunity for smaller funds and other investors provided the performance fees are fair.
General principles previously governed ethical investing, but both fund managers and clients now accept the more hard-nosed approach of eliminating certain companies from portfolios.
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.