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22 December 2024
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After more than a decade of pitiful yields, bonds are back offering better prospects for income investors. What are the best ways to take advantage of the market inefficiencies in Australian fixed income?
Every fund is measured against a benchmark, but active managers earn their fees by taking strong views contrary to an index. It requires fortitude in the short term as interviews with Orbis and Allan Gray show.
In 2023, the focus will shift to the economic cycle. While equities and some of the riskier fixed income markets have challenges, a solid risk-free rate added to a 3-4% equity risk premium is a good through-cycle return.
Five years ago, the move towards passive investment in the US was obvious, and warranted. But there are compelling reasons to think that the next decade will be a more productive environment for active strategies.
The active versus passive debate rests on the lazy assumption that it's not possible to consistently choose managers that outperform. Both the premise and (hence) the narrative are flawed.
It is a tough time to be investing in growth stocks but there may be ways investors can take advantage of lower prices and be well positioned when the market and interest rates return to normality.
Active rebalancing is vital to prevent a portfolio drifting strongly away from its desired asset allocation. See how 60/40 can become 80/20, and is that the correct portfolio in the face of volatility and risk?
The story of Mr Market originated with Ben Graham and was further popularised by Warren Buffett, but does it still hold true? Based on experience, the two-investor scheme looks hopelessly oversimplified.
Investing is a field where experience matters, but we all operate with a set of beliefs. Staying on top of market research gives useful lessons for investors and challenges common assumptions.
Investing in a traditional index can be compared with taking the main road to a destination, but if you know the backroads and traffic conditions, you coud reach your goal quicker.
Where once the name plates of exciting new fund managers proudly displayed, now there are blank spaces. What is happening in the industry that so many talented people are closing the doors?
Many active managers are closet indexers. The real cost of forcing a skilled manager into a low tracking error is the limit to the upside.
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Firstlinks’ co-founder and former Managing Editor, Graham Hand, has died aged 66. Graham was a legendary figure in the finance industry and here are three tributes to him.
Last year, I wrote an article suggesting returns from ASX stocks would trample those from housing over the next decade. One year later, this is an update on how that forecast is going and what's changed since.
Australia is in the early throes of an intergenerational wealth transfer worth an estimated $3.5 trillion. Here's a case study highlighting some of the challenges with transferring wealth between generations.
The Future Fund's original purpose was to meet the unfunded liabilities of Commonwealth defined benefit schemes. These liabilities have ballooned to an estimated $290 billion and taxpayers continue to be treated like fools.
ASFA provides a key guide for how much you will need to live on in retirement. Unfortunately it has many deficiencies, and the averages don't tell the full story of the growing gender superannuation gap.
The Big Four banks have had an extraordinary run and it’s left income investors with a conundrum: to stick with them even though they now offer relatively low dividend yields and limited growth prospects or to look elsewhere.