As the retirement product race heats up in superannuation, funds and advisers need to confront a simple fact: people will live a lot longer than they think. Average life expectancy remains the main metric for determining the planning horizons for retirees. But research from the Actuaries Institute of Australia found that the tools used by…
Despite the popularity of that old adage, it’s never as simple as “buy low, sell high”. But if it’s not true, what are investors to do? “Everyone is familiar with the old saw that’s supposed to capture investing’s basic proposition: “buy low, sell high”,” writes Oaktree Capital founder Howard Marks in his latest memo, ‘Selling…
Despite their surging popularity, risks lurk within illiquid assets that put member outcomes and portfolio quality at risk – and there’s little regulation for handling them. Illiquid assets – anything from infrastructure and commercial property to venture capital and private equity – are experiencing a surge in popularity as institutional investors face down a future…
Jeremy Grantham believes the “superbubble” he’s been warning about for years is now on the brink of collapse – and that the “wild rumpus” can begin at any time. Calling the collapse of a market bubble is anybody’s game. One needs only to know that it exists – something now patently obvious to any investor…
In a world of concept stocks and near-meaningless valuation metrics, the trick to beating the market might well be ignoring it. “Hedge funds aren’t supposed to be a high-risk proposition,” says Omkar Joshi, principal and portfolio manager of Opal Capital Management. “They do get cast in a bad light, and that’s because there’s been lots…
Emerging markets have languished for years despite their explosive economic growth. But the new inflationary epoch – and a burgeoning focus on ESG – might turn all that around. Emerging markets can be a tough game. A decade of lackluster performance compared to their developed market counterparts has culminated in massive regulatory upheaval in China,…
Bronte Capital CEO John Hempton believes the ASX is a target-rich environment for short sellers, and that a potentially imminent “post-bubble environment” will bring better days for the fund. It’s been a tough few years for Bronte Capital, which – like many other hedge funds – has suffered from a period of pretty lacklustre returns…
The problems with Your Future Your Super (YFYS) run deep – among them, how super funds will manage ESG within the confines of low tracking error strategies. But it’s not the end of the road. Under the YFYS reforms, implementation manager Parametric believes tracking error will face downwards pressure as funds try to stay on…
Josh Frydenberg’s unilateral changes to proxy advice regulation look increasingly unjustifiable. The question that remains is why they were forced through in the first place. The changes, rammed through in late 2021 using regulations powers, will make it nearly impossible for the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) to operate with a requirement that it…
The tide is coming in for inflation – but that doesn’t mean there won’t be significant volatility along the way. Investors need to figure out which parts of the economy will catch fire first. “Views on the direction of inflation can be quite fascinating, but only ‘quite’ since no one really knows what they are…
