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Wednesday, 27 October 2021
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Focussing on companies that will benefit from slow moving, long duration and highly predictable demographic trends can help investors predict future opportunities. Three main themes stand out.
A monthly look at innovations changing the world explores cornea transplants, cancer diagnosis, aging, AI, virtual and augmented reality, disinformation, mobility, space, environment, batteries ... there is no limit.
Amid all the reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths, little is said on how vaccines are actually produced. Are they drugs, can we produce them in Australia, and how can millions of doses be rolled out?
It's tempting to focus on the negatives of the pandemic, the US election, the China/US cold war and inequality. But technology is delivering benefits that even wealthy people in the past could not have imagined.
With the short-term focus on the pandemic and speculation about vaccines, it's refreshing to journey to 2030 and imagine the long-term changes coming on the investment horizon.
With 160 programmes underway and billions of dollars spent on COVID-19 vaccines, investors are drawn to optimistic news. However, the company that has developed most new vaccines has a sober view.
Unlike the share prices of some companies which have held up due to their defensive characteristics, Fisher & Paykel is playing an active role in mitigating the worst effects of the crisis.
Biotech and pharma are seductive and exciting sectors to invest in. When products are developed and successfully adopted, it can be very profitable, but most projects do not succeed, and it’s good to know what you’re doing.
We tend to forget that house prices often fall. Direct lending controls are more effective than rate rises because macroprudential limits affect the volume of money for housing leaving business rates untouched.
The survey drew a fantastic 2,000 responses with over 1,000 comments and polar opposite views on what is good policy. Do most people believe the home should be in the age pension asset test, and what do they say?
Any policy decision needs to recognise who is affected by a change. It pays to check the data on who pays taxes, who owns assets and who earns the income to ensure an equitable and efficient outcome.
With articles on the pensions assets test read about 40,000 times, 3,500 survey responses and thousands of comments, there was a lot of great reader participation. A few comments added extra insights.
It is hard to think of any area of widespread public concern where the same policies have been pursued for so long, in the face of such incontrovertible evidence that they have failed to achieve their objectives.
There are reasons to believe inflation will stay under control, and although we may see a slowing in the global economy, two companies should benefit from the themes of 'Stable Compounders' and 'Structural Winners'.