Forum Fodder | Friday 17 July 2020
"I think this recovery is like no other. It's going to be constrained. It's going to be uncertain... it's going to be fragmented across the world." - Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank (Financial Times interview 08 July 2020)
All the best for another week's continuing education! - Graham
P.S. "All things considered..." weekly webinar series starting Friday 31 July 2020. Crises can be useful. They identify where we are weakest. It's what we do with this information that will determine whether we survive or thrive, both during dislocation and in a post-crisis environment. Which assumptions underpinning our investment activities are in greatest need of revision? Why?  Send us your thoughts

LATEST ON-DEMAND CE...

Markets
China as economic bogeyman
Much of the new push for industrial policy in the US and Europe is motivated by the perceived Chinese "threat". But economic considerations suggest this is the wrong focus.
Dani Rodrik, Harvard University | More

Finology
Research Review: Regret
Two research papers exploring regret can help us improve how investment decision-making and outcomes are framed with clients and offer deeper insight into clients' personal and financial goals and priorities.
Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.00 CE | More

Philosophy | Strategies | Editor's Pick!
The case for a barbell investment strategy
What strategy should a rational investor, completely free of constraints, take to preserve wealth while making modest long-term gains? To do so will not be easy over the next two decades.
Dr Woody Brock, SED | 1.00 CE | 1 comment | More

Markets | Strategies | Editor's Pick!
When navigating uncertainty, breadth trumps depth
To succeed within the ever-shifting context in which investment decisions are made, investors should adopt a multi-lens approach. Context matters, and siloed thinking can be detrimental.
Vikram Mansharamani, Harvard University | 1.00 CE | More

Finology | Editor's Pick!
Move over risk/return profiles: Values define client’s needs
Only by making the effort to understand and align investment beliefs with values can we get a sharper understanding of our clients' true objectives and provide solutions that will really meet their needs.
Tassos Stassopoulos, Trinetra Investment Management | 0.50 CE | More

Finology | Invitation to investment advisers
Complimentary survey to benchmark your Client Care & Practice knowledge and skills
FASEA requires that financial advisers continually improve their client care and practice knowledge and skills - doing so makes obvious business sense, as well. Our new Finology Benchmarking Indices (FBI) is the only benchmarking tool for this area of knowledge and skill - and it's complimentary to our investment adviser members while we continue to develop the service.
Take the Finology Benchmarking Indices survey

UPCOMING FACE-TO-FACE CE...

Markets | Strategies | Investing
"All things considered..." weekly webinar series starting Friday 31 July 2020
Crises can be useful. They identify where we are weakest. It's what we do with this information that will determine whether we survive or thrive, both during dislocation and in a post-crisis environment. In line with the Forum's fundamental purpose - to challenge portfolio construction beliefs - this weekly webinar series examines which of our portfolio construction beliefs remain valid, after having been challenged by yet another crisis - this time, the Covid-19 pandemic - and which require new thinking. The series builds towards Strategies Conference 2020: "All things considered... it's a whole new world". Mark your diary! Registration opens next week.

Meanwhile, give us your thoughts! Which assumptions underpinning our investment activities are in greatest need of revsion? Why?  Send us your thoughts

Strategies
Strategies Conference 2020 "All things considered... it's a whole new world"
We are looking forward to presenting Strategies Conference 2020 as a unique, live face-to-face and live online "hybrid" program, including at our Carriageworks campus. Mark your diary! 30 Sep to 01 Oct 2020.
Meanwhile "attend" Strategies Conference 2019 "20/20 vision" on-demand

UPCOMING CERTIFICATION...

Certified Investment Management Analyst^® (CIMA^®)
Are you involved in any aspect of constructing multi-manager portfolios?
CIMA certification is the peak, international technical portfolio construction certification program designed for investment management analysts – that is, those involved in any aspect of constructing multi-manager portfolios, whether practitioner or advocate. Stand For More - more knowledge, skill and expertise - with CIMA certification.
Enrolments are now open for the 2021 intake

RECENT ON-DEMAND CE...

Markets | Finology
Understanding the pandemic stock market
The performance of stock markets during the coronavirus pandemic seems to defy logic - until one considers possible explanations based on crowd psychology.
Robert J. Shiller, Yale University | 1 comment | More

Markets
Every fibre of my being
We are at the half way mark for 2020, and every fibre of my being tells me that the next six months will see many more extraordinary events. Covid-19 can be seen as the great accelerant, or amplifier.
Jonathan Pain, The Pain Report | More

Markets | Strategies
Q&A: Disconnected fundamentals and market valuations
Valuations in both equities and bonds are near their pre-Covid levels, yet the US economy is in recession and 40 million people are unemployed. What should investors be doing in their portfolios?
Robert Gay, Fenwick Advisors | More

Strategies | Editor's Pick!
The need for flexible retirement spending rules
As life expectancies improved, the "Financial Independence, Retire Early" (FIRE) movement was born. But a very long time in "retirement" requires more flexible spending rules.
Michael Kitces, Buckingham Wealth Partners | 1 comment | More

Finology | Editor's Pick!
Applying language research to real life conversations
Practitioners need to know what words to use and lose - and be able to apply that knowledge - to improve their conversations with clients about fees, regulations and investment strategies.
Gary DeMoss, Invesco Consulting | 1.50 CE | More

Markets
Priorities for the Covid-19 economy
Early in the Covid-19 crisis, most people anticipated a quick V-shaped recovery, on the assumption that the economy merely needed a short timeout. It was an appealing idea. But now it is July, and a V-shaped recovery is probably a fantasy.
Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University | More

Strategies
The big picture of longevity planning
During accumulation, the concept of portfolio longevity is quite meaningless. Eventually, peak-wealth is achieved and withdrawals exceed investment gains. Managing portfolio longevity becomes critical.
Moshe Milevsky | 0.50 CE | More

Philosophy  | Finology
All things considered… we don’t know what we don’t know
We make automatic assumptions on a daily basis. A critical assumption is that our pre-crisis investment management toolkit will remain relevant in the future.
Joe Fernandes, GQF Group | More

Finology
Research Review: The endowment effect
The endowment effect is the tendency for people who own a good to value it more than people who do not. Its economic impact is consequential. Two recent papers offer important and very useful insights for investment professionals.
Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.00 CE | More

Markets | Strategies | Editor's Pick!
You are a factor investor
Whether they realise it or not, investors use factors every time they make an asset allocation decision. Combining multiple factors can help investors increase the chances for investment success.
Antonio Picca, Vanguard | 0.50 CE | More

PLUS MORE ON-DEMAND CE...

Forum CE Library - over 540 CE/CPD hours
Complimentary for all Forum members, the Forum's online on-demand CE Library offers over 540 CE/CPD hours of accredited learning resources, to help members meet the CE/CPD requirements of 16 governing bodies (regulators, associations, and institutes) - including ASIC, APRA, FASEA, FMA, AFA, FPA and CIMA^® CE/CPD requirements, to name a few.
More

Forum CIMA CE Library - over 75 CE hours
This subset of the full Forum CE Library features just those learning resources that are accredited for CIMA CE hours, so CIMA certificants can more easily find learning resources to meet their recertification obligation (at the same time as meeting the CE/CPD requirements of other governing bodies e.g. ASIC, APRA, FASEA, FMA, etc). 
More

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