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13 April 2026
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Passive ETFs have become wildly popular just as markets, especially the US, reach extreme valuations. For long-term investors, these ETFs make sense, though if you're investing in them to chase performance, look out below.
As a relentless fee war grips Australia’s ETF market, investors may be missing the real battleground. Beyond basis points, index design itself - not cost - may be the most powerful driver of returns.
Both active and passive investing can work, but active investment doesn’t in the way it is practised by many fund managers and passive investing doesn’t work in the way most end investors practise it. Here’s a better way.
The surge in passive investing doesn’t just mirror the market—it shapes it, often amplifying the rise of the largest firms and creating new risks and opportunities. For investors, understanding these effects is essential.
Exceptional returns from the US sharemarket over the past decade have driven by sales growth, margin expansion, rising valuations, and dividends. Predicting future returns requires careful consideration of these factors.
DeepSeek has surprised investors, but it shouldn't: it's part of a normal capital cycle. Big tech companies have made a lot of money, which attracts capital and competition, and eventually hurts returns and incumbent share prices.
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.
The dominance of mega-cap stocks in the US has led to strong index performance and a new wave of passive investors. Australia's markets might not be so suited to this approach.
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.
Payment of product commissions to financial advisers is banned in Australia, but the global Franklin Templeton CEO says it prevents some people from accessing needed advice. She also speaks about revaluing private assets.
It is common to see 'smart beta' as the core of a portfolio supported by high conviction active funds, or a core active manager blended with a complimentary smart beta strategy. It also removes key person risk.
One in five Australians die before retirement and most have not set up their super properly so their loved ones can benefit from all their hard work and savings.
Stay on top of the latest changes to superannuation rates and thresholds for 2026, including increases to transfer balance cap, concessional contributions cap, and non-concessional contributions cap.
The 20 years after Peter Costello left Treasury have been deemed wasted...by Peter Costello. The missed opportunities for Australia began long before.
An ageing Australia is shifting the superannuation system’s focus from accumulation to the lifecycle of retirement. While these pressures have been anticipated for decades, they are now converging at scale and driving widespread industry change.
The Strait of Hormuz closure due to US-Iran conflict severely disrupted global energy supply chains. While various emergency measures mitigated the crude impact, the refined product market faces unprecedented stress.
With the upcoming budget increasingly likely to include bold proposals to alter the tax code I’ve outlined three incremental steps with fewer unintended consequences.