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Thursday, 28 October 2021
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Investors with a consistent investment approach which avoids chasing performance should reap rewards over time. A recent US study reveals a persistent gap between reported returns and what investors actually receive.
Harry Markowitz is the 1990 Nobel Laureate and Pensions & Investments Magazine's 'Man of the Century'. For his 94th birthday, he explains the magic moment of his Modern Portfolio Theory and Efficient Frontier work.
Picking macro trends is difficult. What may seem logical and compelling one minute may completely change a few months later. There are better rewards from focussing on identifying the best companies at good prices.
Conservative investors are forced to choose between protecting capital and accepting lower income while drawing down capital to maintain living standards or taking additional risk. How can you strike a balance?
When we think about investing, we think about buying. The intricacies of the selling decisions are frequently overlooked, and poor selling is correlated to a lack of conviction. Selling is as important as buying.
Australia’s economic recovery is expected to be strong in 2021. It may appear the local economy is lagging other countries as they recover but that is only because we are not starting from such a low base.
The rise of the Bitcoin price coinciding with a pullback in the gold price is leading commentators to argue the precious metal is being usurped by its purported digital counterpart. There's a long way to go.
Warren Buffett's investment portfolio gains attention because of his legendary status, but parts of his empire in insurance, railways, metalworking and aircraft suppliers have been damaged by the pandemic.
Gold investors enjoyed solid gains in 2020, especially mitigating portfolio losses during Q1 when stockmarket losses were severe. The best-case scenario is built into shares now, but gold will be bid if this changes.
Investors with heavy allocations to a broad US index should check how much is exposed to tech stocks, especially when valuations look a bit steep. It might be time to reallocate to other sectors or styles.
A review of the performance of gold in the aftermath of prior US Presidential elections gives a feel for where the price may head, but with a wide disparity within the one-year figures.
Sitting on the sidelines means missing the best days in the market and forgoing initial recovery periods that may include healthy index increases. Here are investment themes to guide through turbulence.
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'.