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21 May 2025
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It's important to demand the highest standards from firms that are entrusted with managing other people’s savings. Key attributes to look for are strong stewardship and the ability to deliver long-term returns.
Investors face a difficult decision when choosing their fund managers. Here's a guide for how they can find active managers with sustainable long-term advantages who can help make a difference to their portfolios.
Investors can invest in the funds of our leading fund managers, or they can invest in the business itself. The success of the fund manager is 'twinned' to the performance of the fund, but what type of twins are they?
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.
Investing in a traditional index can be compared with taking the main road to a destination, but if you know the backroads and traffic conditions, you coud reach your goal quicker.
Notwithstanding the wide variety of fund managers and fund structures vying for the investor dollar, some questions need to be asked of all of them. They help us determine the quality of the fund and the manager.
Financial advisers spend an inordinate amount of time selecting fund managers for their clients, but is the impact/effort matrix worth it. It's hard enough for good managers to even beat the index.
Family offices and institutional asset allocators select their fund managers based on different factors, and it influences the quality and outcomes of their decisions.
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.
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.
Last week’s article on index versus active portfolio management drew many comments, including on the website, by email and by forwarding other articles to us. Here is a sample.
If you think you can identify the few managers who can outperform the index over time, either by research or based on advice, go for it. But the odds are stacked against you.
Labor has announced a $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries Program, aimed at slashing the cost of home batteries. The goal is to turbocharge battery uptake, though practical difficulties may prevent that happening.
The famed investor says the rapid switch from globalisation to trade wars is the biggest upheaval in the investing environment since World War Two. And a new world requires a different investment approach.
The boss of Australia’s fourth largest super fund by assets, UniSuper’s John Pearce, says Trump has declared an economic war and he’ll be reducing his US stock exposure over time. Should you follow suit?
Every crisis throws up opportunities. Here are ideas to capitalise on this one, including ‘overbalancing’ your portfolio in stocks, buying heavily discounted LICs, and cherry picking bombed out sectors like oil and gas.
While many chase high yields, true investment power lies in companies that steadily grow dividends. This strategy, rooted in patience and discipline, quietly compounds wealth and anchors investors through market turbulence.
Behind market volatility and tariff threats lies a deeper strategy. Trump’s real goal isn’t trade reform but managing America's massive debts, preserving bond market confidence, and preparing for potential QE.