PortfolioConstruction Forum

 Friday 11 July 2014

The independent professional development service for investment portfolio construction practitioners

G'day

This week's Fodder is a shorter version than usual, out of respect for this being the last week of the school holidays. If you're really pressed for time, then don't miss Dom McCormick's piece on whether geopolical risk really matters for portfolio construction along with Angela Ashton's review of two recent research papers which tested changes to risk tolerance through the GFC. It was the first market crisis where good risk profiling tools have been in place across a very wide range of investors. The two papers reviewed appear to settle the age-old debate about whether risk tolerance is stable.

You'll have noticed that registration is now open for PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference 2014. Our theme this year is "Reconnecting the three Rs - Risk & Return (& Relating). The latter is the focus of a new Conference feature - a one-day Finology Forum, where we'll look in depth at how to better relate complex investment issues to investors. It's where investing meets investors! We hope to see you there!
All the best for some great weekend learning - Graham
P.S. Registration is now open for Conference. Early bird ends 31 July.

LATEST...

Gouging the Gauchos
The recent US supreme court ruling that Argentina's hold-out creditors have the right to be paid in full is a dangerous decision for all countries for two reasons.
Nouriel Roubini, Roubini Global Economics| Opinion

Geopolitical risk - implications for portfolio construction
Do geopolitical events involving potential or actual military conflict really matter in the constructing of investment portfolios?
Dominic McCormick, Select Asset Management | Opinion

Evidence for the stability of risk tolerance
The GFC was the first market crisis where good risk profiling tools had been in place across a wide range of investors. Two recent papers look at whether risk tolerances altered materially through it.
Angela Ashton, PortfolioConstruction Forum | Opinion

RECENTLY...

The good guys and the bad guys in the cradle of civilisation
What we are witnessing in Iraq is a war within Islam. Will it mutate into a broader regional war thereby threatening oil supplies?
Jonathan Pain, The Pain Report | Opinion

Has behavioural finance made us better (investors)?
Are the human and organisational barriers to being better investors insurmountable, or can we learn and improve our decision-making?
Prof Jack Gray, UTS | Resources

The lesson of Sarajevo
The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo 100 yrs ago tomorrow lit the fuse to WW1. There are many points of modern relevance in the catastrophe.
Anatole Kaletsky, GaveKal | Opinion

Rethinking the Sino-American relationship
The upcoming US/China 6th Strategic & Economic Dialogue is an opportunity for serious reconsideration of the relationship between the world's two most powerful countries.
Stephen Roach, Yale University | Opinion

Show me the alpha
This paper examines the oft-considered subject of hedge fund returns, finding far greater dispersion than for traditional fund managers.
Angela Ashton, PortfolioConstruction Forum | Research

PLUS...

Register now: PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference (19-21 Aug)
Since 2002, PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference has gained a reputation as THE investment conference of the year. Presented in Sydney each August, it is our flagship program - a jam-packed, marathon three-day, 25-hour program featuring 40 intensive, objective, interactive sessions and more than 50 carefully selected local and international portfolio construction experts. It is a companion program to the annual Markets Summit held in Sydney each February.
Register now

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