Australian Catholic Super

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?

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?

Basing an investment strategy on the goldilocks investment markets of the last 35 years gives rise to considerable risk, writes Michael Block, and now might be the time to get out of growth assets.

“We had the courage to stick with our investment strategies,” ACS CIO Michael Block tells ISN. “Often what happens with a strategy that doesn’t work is you cut and run at the wrong time. We were lucky enough or clever enough or brave enough that that didn’t happen, and our members reaped the benefit this year.”

The Your Future Your Super (YFYS) performance test introduces systemic risk into superannuation and discourages the involvement of funds in nation-building projects. But tweaking the test itself might be a tall order.

Super fund members have been “spared the worst”, while the outperformance of the top ten funds was generated by active management and chunky allocations to private markets.

Super fund data companies are rushing to beat deadlines for June 30 figures, with heightened interest from industry participants and members. The median balanced fund was minus 3.3 per cent, SuperRatings said.

UniSuper’s decision to dip its toe into venture capital is all about members. The question is whether the fund will go further down a road that few others have tread.  It’s an investment that would barely move the dial on overall returns, but the $75 million that UniSuper has tipped into early-stage commercialisation manager Uniseed…

In the aftermath of Your Future Your Super (YFYS), members of dud funds still aren’t moving their super. And it’s not clear what the government and regulators can do about it. It sometimes seems that so much time was spent on implementing the contentious YFYS reforms that the question of what would happen to members…