Comment

If or when there’s another royal commission into financial services, the profit-to-member and industry funds will not be able to say they weren’t warned about their problems. They were warned twice on Tuesday alone.

Bad memories of a 1970s style inflation breakout are animating monetary policy in the post-Covid world, writes Rob Prugue. And the irrational prejudice of inflation hawks means more viable tools are being discarded.

The start of any high profile corporate failure can often be traced back to a lack of fiduciary oversight, writes Rob Prugue. Shareholders have a responsibility to both appoint and monitor those who represent their interests.

Betashares has become the second ETF provider to launch a superannuation product, but as with other new entrants into the highly concentrated market it will be a challenge for it to find its feet.

Investors are sailing in uncharted waters, writes Michael Block, and the only way to navigate them is through a well-diversified portfolio. But is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

If greed is good in the world of private equity, it’s anathema to super funds and other pension plans with members that will never make as much money as the people who manage their retirement savings.

Breaking superannuation into three different funding models may not be the right answer, former Lazard executive Rob Prugue writes, but at least it cuts through the fallacy at the heart of our superannuation ideal. 

The crippling doom loop between the banks and the real economy we saw in 2008 is unlikely to feature in the coming recession, says Ruffer’s Jamie Dannhauser, who is more concerned about a violent liquidation in financial markets.

Those that have made high returns by overpaying for higher-risk/lower-quality credit have been lucky and credit conditions are unlikely to be so easy in the future, writes Michael Block. Now is the time to take a very thorough look at one’s credit exposures.

Genuine uncorrelated alpha is the holy grail of investments, writes Michael Block, but managers and strategies that can actually generate it are hard to find. So what’s a poor boy to do?

The scrutiny applied to internal managers rarely matches that applied to external managers, writes Rob Prugue. But underperformance is still underperformance, and if something goes wrong the member wears the risk.

As Australian superannuation assets approach A$4 trillion, politicians on both sides of the divide will be tempted to dip into this massive nest egg to meet their fiscal needs, writes Rob Prugue.