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20 April 2024
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As bonds swoon and equities plateau, gold has reached Australian dollar all-time highs, thanks in part to rising geopolitical tensions. Is it too late to buy, or even increase, a gold allocation in a portfolio?
Australian investors have been allocating more to fixed income assets this year. Persistent inflation is a key risk for bonds, and that's where gold can play a diversifying role within an investment portfolio.
Many are comparing Nvidia’s historic run to Cisco Systems in the 1990s. Here is a thought experiment comparing the returns of Cisco since that period to a more conservative alternative, and the results might surprise you.
Asset allocation explains up 70% of total investment returns, making it of critical importance to SMSFs. Here are some guidelines for how they should go about it and the macroeconomic events that could influence allocations.
SMSF investors continue to face inflationary pressure not seen in decades, and it could influence investment performance if the potential effects are not considered. Here's how to inflation-proof your portfolio.
Macroeconomic indicators suggest that the US is in the last stage of the economic cycle with a recession likely by the end of 2023. There are five assets that can help insulate your portfolio if a downturn takes place.
Australian retail investors remain wary of the rising stock market. In fact, they are more defensively positioned than at the height of the Covid crisis, crowding primarily into domestic large cap companies.
Benjamin Graham wrote that everyone should hold between 25% and 75% in equities, with the rest in bonds. That's a big range, but equities give the best long-term returns. The right level is the point where you sleep easy.
As markets whipsaw, the risk that volatility might undermine investors’ ability to achieve their return objectives looms large. What can investors do to mitigate that risk and avoid falling short of their goals?
Since 1980, inflation eroded 81% of purchasing power. $100,000 then can now buy only $19,000 worth of goods and services. The longer money must last, the more we need ‘growth’ assets with inflation protection.
In this environment, safe-haven assets like Government bonds act as a diversifier given the uncorrelated nature to equities during periods of risk-off, while offering a yield above term deposit rates.
Low interest rates have so far not ruffled the 60/40 portfolio, but rising rates mean managers and investors will have to be vigilant to maintain returns while controlling volatility.
The ATO has released all the superannuation rates and thresholds that will apply from 1 July 2024. Here's what’s changing and what’s not, and some key considerations and opportunities in the lead up to 30 June and beyond.
Jim Simons has achieved breathtaking returns of 62% p.a. over 33 years, a track record like no other, yet he remains little known to the public. Here’s how he’s done it, and the lessons that can be applied to our own investing.
Life has radically shifted with my brain cancer, and I don’t know if it will ever be the same again. After decades of writing and a dozen years with Firstlinks, I still want to contribute, but exactly how and when I do that is unclear.
Australia will have 3.7 million more people in a decade's time, though the growth won't be evenly distributed. Over 85s will see the fastest growth, while the number of younger people will barely rise.
Being rich is having a high-paying job and accumulating fancy houses and cars, while being wealthy is owning assets that provide passive income, as well as freedom and flexibility. Knowing the difference can reframe your life.
Investor disgust, consolidation, de-listings, price discounts, activist investors entering - it’s what typically happens at business cycle troughs, and it’s happening to LICs now. That may present a potential opportunity.