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16 September 2025
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Unlike most other superannuation funds, UniSuper hasn’t piled into unlisted assets. Because of this, it has extra cash on hand and is taking advantage of opportunities opening up as rate hikes crunch economies.
The long-term retirement system allows super funds to buy illiquid assets, but they must be prudently managed. Measuring liquidity is complex but how do our five major funds compare and are their levels safe?
Super funds are increasingly allocating low and middle-income Australia’s hard-earned dollars to sophisticated and opaque unlisted assets. Reform is needed to bring transparency to the valuations of these assets.
Howard Marks updates his views on markets and whether we are in a bubble, but his comments on fund managers in public markets, liquidity premiums in private markets and the role of SPACs were most original.
Most fund managers had a strong year in FY2018, but past bumper years when MTAA invested heavily in so called 'low risk' illiquid assets provide a warning in less fortuitous markets.
Despite similar objectives, the proportion of Australian superannuation assets in alternative and less liquid assets is much lower than for other long-term investors such as family offices and global pension funds.
Each generation believes its economic challenges were uniquely tough - but what does the data say? A closer look reveals a more nuanced, complex story behind the generational hardship debate.
Australia could unlock smarter investment and greater equity by reforming housing tax concessions. Rethinking exemptions on the family home could benefit most Australians, especially renters and owners of modest homes.
This goes through the different options including shares, property and business ownership and declares a winner, as well as outlining the mindset needed to earn enough to never have to work again.
Everyone has a theory as to why housing in Australia is so expensive. There are a lot of different factors at play, from skewed migration patterns to banking trends and housing's status as a national obsession.
The creator of the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals, Bill Bengen, has written a new book outlining fresh strategies to outlive your money, including holding fewer stocks in early retirement before increasing allocations.
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.