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Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Recently trending Welcome to Firstlinks Edition 383Five ways the Retirement Review points to new policiesGraeme Shaw on why investing is at a pivotal momentRetirement Review gives strong views on hoarding of super11 key findings on retirement dreams during the pandemic
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Some fund managers take as much money as they can raise in the interests of generating fees, but especially in the smaller and mid cap space, limiting capacity gives flexibility and a competitive advantage.
For many global tech companies, COVID has boosted their revenues and pushed share prices to all-time highs. We are on the cusp of amazing technical advances and there are plenty of new opportunities.
Fidelity took out the top gong this year alongside other winners in Australian equities, global equities, fixed interest, listed property and infrastructure and multisector funds.
Where once the name plates of exciting new fund managers proudly displayed, now there are blank spaces. What is happening in the industry that so many talented people are closing the doors?
For individual investors interested in putting money where the experts go, professional fund buyers are making modest portfolio adjustments in light of a riskier market, and faith on active management remains strong.
Investors do not ask enough questions of their fund managers before they commit money. It's worth at least knowing whether a long-term view is taken rather than the easier road of jumping in and out of markets.
A major publisher has discontinued a high-profile fund manager award due to short termism and the conflict of fund managers contributing to the revenues of the agencies doing the ratings.
Fund managers are commonly using algorithms to derive and implement their investment strategies, and investors should be looking behind and beyond the computer code to understand the inputs.
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.
Superannuation and managed fund providers are finding new product disclosure requirements challenging, but the standards will allow better fund comparisons for consumers.
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.
One of the downsides of Donald Trump commanding the headlines is that we skim over other significant issues. For example, few Australians read the China Daily News or coverage of its contents, missing official statements that are terrifying hundreds of Australian producers. China says Australia will 'pay tremendously' for its recent lack of respect.
The Retirement Income Review goes much further than an innocent-sounding 'fact base', and is sure to guide policies in the run up to the next election. It will change how we think about retirement incomes.
Company profits have not improved for many years but higher valuations have been driven by falling rates and excess liquidity. Conditions do not suit a value and contrarian manager but here are some opportunities.
The Review includes some profound findings, most notable that retirement income should include drawing down far more capital. Expect post-retirement products to proliferate under a Retirement Income Covenant.
A mid-pandemic survey of over 1,000 people near or in retirement found three in four are not confident how long their money will last. Only 18% felt their money was safe during a strong economic downturn.
Banks severely cut dividends in 2020 but are expected to improve payments in 2021. History provides clues to when the banks will return to their 2019 levels of profitability, but who is positioned the best?