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23 December 2024
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Ancient Stoic philosophers had an idea called 'premeditatio malorum', that involves considering some of the worst things that can happen to you as a way of immunising yourself against them. It can be a useful tool for investors too.
The rise of trading discounts in closed-ended funds has challenged investors. This latest research suggests that funds that exhibit high volatility or beta tend to trade at larger discounts to their net tangible asset values.
Volatility in interest rate expectations and elevated yields may amplify traditional portfolio risks. Gold has a low correlation to equities and bonds and can help improve the performance of portfolios.
Since the 1970s, whenever positive economic growth and disinflation have joined forces, they've produced good conditions for equities, particularly for companies with pricing power. It bodes well for markets going forward.
Regardless of the strengths of a stock, there are no certainties. Bond rates have risen far higher than most analysts expected and 'bond proxies' have suffered, even property with long leases, quality tenants and tailwinds.
A growing number of Australians are choosing to hedge their international equity exposures. Currency movements are difficult to predict so investors should treat currency hedging as a way to manage risk, not to add return.
While private investments remain a potential source for differentiated equitylike return streams, their structure merits caution for retail investors. These investments can easily turn south without access to high quality teams.
Financial markets have been volatile of late, and it's tempting for investors to seek shelter in cash for some or all of their nest egg. While that may seem a sensible strategy, it can also be a costly one.
ASX small caps have recently underperformed larger companies and liquidity in these companies has vanished. That provides a chance for enterprising investors to buy fast growing yet cheap small and micro cap stocks.
Owning bonds is less risky than owning shares, right? The evidence suggests that while this may be true in the short term, it isn't over longer time horizons, with important implications for asset allocation.
Are super fund allocations to private markets a form of 'volatility laundering' as one commentator suggests? Perhaps, but it's crucial to distinguish between different segments of private markets for a complete picture.
With domestic equities markets affected by macroeconomic volatility in 2022, Australian Ethical discusses the headwinds faced by investors and some of the opportunities this environment creates for 2023.
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.