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4 October 2025
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The market share for Exchange Traded Funds and index trackers may increase past optimal levels and stay there for many years. There seems very little if anything that active managers can do to reverse that.
There are signs that passive investing is struggling to keep up in a world that's rapidly passing it by. To understand why, we need to talk about how private equity has revolutionised the investment landscape.
In a recent interview, Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor explains why low-cost investing wins, how artificial intelligence and ESG will bring lots of opportunities, and why distractions are an investor's worst enemy.
Famed investor David Einhorn says passive investing has broken markets and it's forced him to change his investment style to stay in business. How has passive investing transformed markets, and what happens next?
John Bogle famously advocated a two-fund portfolio of US stocks and bonds. Recently, I tried to create an Australian version of the Bogle portfolio and found that what seems simple can quickly turn complicated.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is one of the most concentrated sharemarket indices in the world. Equal weighted indices can offer an alternative and have historically outperformed their market capitalisation counterparts.
An index rebalance occurs when the composition of an index changes. Fund managers must buy and sell stocks to match the rebalanced index and to achieve their index-tracking objective, but there are consequences.
In his final letter as CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos implored people to avoid being normal, to nurture their distinctiveness. Fund managers should earn their active fees by building unique, active portfolios.
Based on a long investing career, the author sets out his beliefs without attempting to justify them here. Readers can agree or disagree. It's his guide for friends and family with an actionable variation for risk appetite.
A look at long-term performance gives a sense of perspective that helps tune out short-term noise, focus on your long-term goals and ‘stay the course’. Here are some interactive charts.
Howard Marks' memos to his clients are always worth reading, and when a highly successful manager acknowledges the strengths of index investing, it's worth checking what he says.
Passive investing typically incurs less tax than active investing but should be made even more tax-effective by using losses in the portfolio to offset taxable capital gains.
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.
An explosion in low-skilled migration to Australia has depressed wages, killed productivity, and cut rental vacancy rates to near decades-lows. It’s time both sides of politics addressed the issue.
LICs are continuing to struggle with large discounts and frustrated investors are wondering whether it’s worth holding onto them. This explains why the next 6-12 months will be make or break for many LICs.
Australian housing’s 50-year boom was driven by falling rates and rising borrowing power — not rent or yield. With those drivers exhausted, future returns must reconcile with economic fundamentals. Are we ready?
Younger Australians think they’ll need $100k a year in retirement - nearly double what current retirees spend. Expectations are rising fast, but are they realistic or just another case of lifestyle inflation?
This week, I got the news that my mother has dementia. It came shortly after my father received the same diagnosis. This is a meditation on getting old and my regrets in not getting my parents’ affairs in order sooner.