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4 February 2026
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We overvalue the present and underestimate the future - it’s a cognitive glitch called hyperbolic discounting. It affects savings, spending, and loans, and it's more common - and costly - than we think.
Studies reveal silver to many athletes feels like they have lost, while bronze medallists often think they have won by making it onto the podium ahead of the rest of the field. This has lessons for investors too.
People are hard-wired to make poor financial decisions under conditions of uncertainty. A new research paper explores whether a strategy built to exploit these biases in financial markets could succeed.
News nowadays seems to have become even more negative with constant stories of disasters, conflict, wrongdoing, grievance and loss. These risks can’t be ignored yet the history of investing suggests that pessimism doesn’t pay.
Recency bias often prevents investors from rationally evaluating the road ahead. We look at how to counter this common error and build a durable investment portfolio that will perform under most circumstances.
Investors rarely ask fund managers the right questions, forcing a confusion between selling and investing. The relationship should focus on the long run and eliminate the luck and noise of short-termism.
Knowing about psychological barriers to good investment performance can help to understand and minimise mistakes. Consider how often a cognitive bias has led to a poor investment.
What are the best ways to build a simple portfolio from scratch? I’ve addressed this issue before but think it’s worth revisiting given markets and the world have since changed, throwing up new challenges and things to consider.
At this time last year, I forecast that 2025 would likely be a positive year given strong economic prospects and disinflation. The outlook for this year is less clear cut and here is what investors should do.
Treasury has released draft legislation for a new version of the controversial $3 million super tax. It's a significant improvement on the original proposal but there are some stings in the tail.
The renowned investor says 2025’s real story wasn’t AI or US stocks but the shift away from American assets and a collapse in the value of money. And he outlines how to best position portfolios for what’s ahead.
The predictions include dividends will outstrip growth as a source of Australian equity returns, US market performance will be underwhelming, while US government bonds will beat gold.
We don’t have a housing shortage; we have housing misallocation. This explores why so many bedrooms go unused, what’s been tried before, and five things to unlock housing capacity – no new building required.