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8 October 2025
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Active funds cost more than passive because the investor is paying for the skill of the manager, so why are fund managers reticent to describe their skill rather than their outcomes. Here are five reasons.
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.
Imagine it is 24 hours before you are born and you can set all the rules: any political system, any economic structure, any social edifice. One catch: you don't know which of the nine billion people on earth will be you.
It's easy to find eminent market experts with completely opposite views on the market at any moment. View the forecasts of investment gurus for what they are: guesstimates. Only you can decide what's right for you.
Part of the fund manager's job is to raise money from investors, and with years of practice, a few good stock stories and an educated guess on the future, it's not hard to present well. That's a problem for investors.
Investors do not ask enough questions of their fund managers before they commit money. It's worth at least knowing whether a long-term view is taken rather than the easier road of jumping in and out of markets.
Investors rarely ask fund managers the right questions, forcing a confusion between selling and investing. The relationship should focus on the long run and eliminate the luck and noise of short-termism.
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.