PortfolioConstruction Forum

 Friday 07 August 2015

Independent continuing education for investment portfolio construction practitioners

G'day

In this week's Fodder, we bring you perspectives from some of our faculty for the upcoming PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference 2015. It's just the start - we'll be publishing more perspectives from our faculty over coming weeks.

Firstly, Professor Moshe Milevsky talks briefly on individuals' three types of capital and how they (do or should) affect our retirement decisions. Prof Milevsky will address the third - human capital - in his Conference presentation "A client's life is a mix of stocks and bonds. Allocate around it".

Next up is a white paper from Longview Economics' Chris Watling, in which he argues that Australia's 94 quarter economic expansion is at a major crossroad, with recession looming. Chris will (bravely!) stand up in front of 500+ Australians at Conference, and deliver this paper live.

Moving on (returning) to the issue of whether active managers can add value, we feature a new research paper by Affiliated Managers Group which examined nearly 5,000 active equity strategies across 20 years. It found there is a "boutique premium" i.e. boutiques significantly outperformed non-boutiques and generated substantial returns versus indices. AMG's Matthew Kelly will deliver this paper live at Conference.

On that same note, Michael Edesess is traveling from Hong Kong to deliver his "Why 'smart beta' is really dumb" paper at Conference - before being grilled by a panel of smart beta portfolio managers. Read the paper and earn 0.75 CE hours.

And finally, we bring you an updated paper from Magellan Asset Management's Sam Churchill on why China's property bubble is set to burst. We published his original paper back in April, and Sam's now updated it following China's recent stock market volatility.

These papers and 30 others will be delivered live at Conference 2015 (Crossroads - Dilemmas | Decisions) - but if you can't make to the onstage

program, you'll be able to "attend" via the online Resources Kit (and earn CPD hours). 

All the best for another great weekend's learning! - Graham

P.S. While standard registration for Conference 2015 is sold out, we do have a very limited number of Standby registrations available.

LATEST...

Individuals' three types of capital
Individuals have three types of capital - financial capital (pretty obvious, everybody understands that) as well as human capital and social capital. All three affect our financial and retirement decisions.
Prof Moshe Milevsky, York University | Opinion

Australia – recession beckons
At 94 quarters old, Australia's economic expansion is the second longest expansion on record amongst the main developed economies. Does a recession beckon?
Chris Watling, Longview Economics | White Paper

The boutique premium
While the debate over the value of active investment management has intensified in recent years, the outperformance of boutique managers over non-boutiques and indices has been overlooked.
Affiliated Managers Group | White Paper

Why 'smart beta' is really dumb
Does smart beta deserve the attention it is getting? I can't see how it's possible to have more diversification benefit using a factor approach to constructing portfolios than any other approach.
Michael Edesess, EDHEC-Risk Institute | 0.75 CE | Opinion

China’s property bubble is set to burst!
There are a number of reasons to be optimistic about China's long-term economic future, but the short-to-medium term challenges are considerable.
Sam Churchill, Magellan Asset Management | Opinion

RECENTLY...

China - the true risks to its future growth
China is a glass both half full and half empty. It will continue to grow and become a great superpower, but its future growth rate will be significantly lower than President Xi's "new normal" 6% forecast.
Dr Woody Brock, SED | White Paper

Not a People’s Republic - an empire
The single most important macro-trend of our time is China's attempt to transform itself from a typical (if large) emerging market into an empire. The interesting bit for investors is that growing empires usually breed strong currencies.
Louis-Vincent Gave, GaveKal | Opinion

Market manipulation goes global
Market manipulation has become standard operating procedure in policy circles around the world. The more proactive Chinese approach is the policy equivalent of attempting to catch a falling knife – arresting a market in free-fall.
Stephen Roach, Yale University | Opinion

Understanding skill - a paradox
The challenge in finding differential skill among active managers reflects a surfeit, not a dearth, of skill. This is the major lesson of the paradox of skill. As Napoleon was reported to say, "Ability is nothing without opportunity."
Michael Mauboussin, Credit Suisse | 0.75 CE | White Paper

Undiscovered Fund: Active unconstrained global debt strategy
A total return oriented, actively managed global fixed income strategy that aims to outperform the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill Index by 3% pa over the medium-term.
Zenith Investment Partners | 0.75 CE | Research

PLUS...

Register now: PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference (19-20 Aug)
Portfolio construction is approaching a crossroads – and critical questions must be answered. For starters, is the developed world’s 35-year (some say, 100-year) investment supercycle exhausted, heralding in an investment regime the likes of which most of us have never experienced in our careers? Or, is reinflation underway, signalling a return to higher rates and strong asset price growth and returns instead? Will active or passive strategies therefore be more appropriate? Complicating things further, what were only emerging megatrends early last decade have now become entrenched, causing massive structural change and further portfolio construction dilemmas. Critical decisions must now be made.

Since 2002, Conference has gained a reputation as THE investment conference of the year. This year's jam-packed, marathon two-day, 15-hour program features 30+ intensive, objective, interactive sessions and a carefully selected faculty of more than 35 international and local portfolio construction experts.

Conference 2015 will facilitate debate on the markets, strategies and investing with particular focus on portfolio “crossroads” - contemporary investment dilemmas and the resulting portfolio construction decisions. We'd welcome you joining us!
Register now

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