Forum Fodder

Forum Fodder | Friday 05 July 2024
“In a fundamental sense, a person is healthy if they don’t yet know what they’re going to die of. And by that standard, this economic expansion, I think, is healthy.” - Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers at the Aspen Ideas Festival 2024 (27 June 2024)
All the best for another week’s continuing education!
Graham

Strategies

Strategies Summit 2024 “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
AEST Wednesday 21 August & Thursday 22 August 2024
Strategies Summit 2024 will challenge and refresh your portfolio construction thinking by debating contemporary and emerging portfolio construction strategies to help you build better quality portfolios.
For centuries, philosophers and scientists have explored emergence – the idea that several substances may be combined to create higher-level substances with new and very different characteristics. For example, metals, plastics, and glass form the components needed to build an airliner, offering a cost-effective and comfortable means of long-distance travel. Processed differently, those same raw materials combine to form laptop computers that enable people to communicate, trade and work remotely, reducing the need to travel at all.
Multi-asset, multi-manager investment portfolios can be viewed as complex machines that, if properly assembled and managed, provide benefits far outweighing those of their individual components. Each element should be best practice – yet only a holistic portfolio construction approach which considers all the parts, and the interactions between them, supported by a clear and cohesive implementation framework, can ensure client objectives will be met. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts!
Live studio, live site, or live stream | 12+ CE | Register now!

Markets

The defining economic issue of the US election
Economists are struggling to reconcile their upbeat views on the US economy with the angst of average Americans. The key measures of economic performance are almost perfect. But voters continue to cite the economy as a top issue.
Stephen Roach, Yale University | Read

Markets | Philosophy

Thinking Differently: Arthur Sinodinos
Many Australians view the rise of western “populism” as irrational. But former Australian politician and immediate past Ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, thinks differently.
Wayne Fitzgibbon, Thinking Differently | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Investing

Spotlight on active management
While the majority underperform, there are still many, many managers that do outperform their relevant index over long periods. The rewards for good manager selection are real and worthwhile - if you have above average manager selection skills.
Tim Farrelly, farrelly’s Investment Strategy | 0.50 CE | Read

Markets | Finology

Research Review: Personality and portfolio allocation
The Big Five model of personality traits remains the dominant framework in personality research. Increasingly, it appears that aspects of investor sentiment and decision-making can also be explained by Big Five personality traits.
Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.50 CE | Read

Strategies | Finology | Philosophy

Bird’s Eye View: The role of the financial adviser
I was speaking to a new doctoral student whose thesis is on the role of risk profiling in the development of an investment strategy. This led us to discuss why risk profiling was important and the purpose of investment advice.
Ron Bird, Portfolio Construction Forum | Read

Markets

Very Timely Warning
The House of Lords is often seen as an unelected anachronism but it contains far more able and thoughtful individuals that the train wreck that the Commons has become…
Wayne Fitzgibbon, Thinking Differently | Read

Markets

Mostly agree
However, the reference to ‘crowding out’ private borrowing relies on loanable funds theory…
David Graham | Read

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Philosophy | ** All members **

Short Course: Mastering private debt investing
Examining the unique characteristics that make private debt a compelling investment. Private debt has grown in popularity as an alternative source of debt financing, with the asset class tripling in size since 2008. Curated and produced by Portfolio Construction Forum, and led by private debt investing subject matter expert, Andrew Lockhart, this self-paced, two-hour online short course equips you with the expertise to navigate private debt investment confidently across diverse market conditions.
Metrics & Portfolio Construction Forum | 2.00 CE | Enrol

Finology | Philosophy | ** Premium **

On The Hunt: Ethical behaviour profiling
On the Hunt is a monthly lecture series focused on the human factors in investment portfolio construction, including the ethical implications. It will help you better identify and understand how investing biases, beliefs and behaviours impact portfolio construction practices - and therefore, investment outcomes - to help you build better quality investor portfolios.
Katherine Hunt, Ardentura Consulting | 1.00 CE (Ethics) | Premium | Enrol

Finology | Philosophy | ** Premium **

Behavioural Finance: Investment decision-making short course
Led by behavioural finance expert, Herman Brodie, this online, on-demand course completed at your own pace will help you identify, analyse and evaluate the principal human preferences that influence decision-making in situations of uncertainty, so you can recognise and identify these preferences in others, to improve investment decision-making.
Herman Brodie | 8.00 CE | Enrol

Markets

The moral hazard of lower interest rates
Capital markets believe that interest rates are indeed on a downward path. Regulators would do well to get ahead of the next speculative cycle while they still can.
Dambisa Moyo, Versaca Investments | Read

Strategies | Markets

Crockpot: Bonds are no longer negatively correlated with equities
Many commentators have noticed the positive correlation between bonds and equities over the past few years and announced the end of bonds as a useful diversifier - often claiming “The 60/40 portfolio is dead, long live alternatives!”.
Tim Farrelly, farrelly’s Investment Strategy | Read

Markets | Investing | Finology | Philosophy

Thinking Differently: Chris Joye
With Australian insolvencies at a 25-year high and corporate debt defaults rising globally, many investors are hoping that central banks will significantly reduce interest rates. But Coolabah Capital’s Chris Joye thinks differently.
Wayne Fitzgibbon, Thinking Differently | Listen, Watch

Markets

Supply chains find a way – resilience amid natural disasters
Investors must pay close attention to emergent supply chain disruption events, including those caused by mother nature. Four real-world examples reveal both exposure and impact of weather-related disruptions.
Chris Rogers, S&P Global | 0.25 CE | Read

Strategies | Philosophy Editor’s Pick!

If you do anything, embrace scenario planning
The primary criticism directed at those who think about the future is that it’s an act of futility. But thinking about how the future may unfold has proven to be a useful way to make decisions amidst radical uncertainty.
Vikram Mansharaman, Portfolio Construction Forum | 0.25 CE | Read, Listen, Watch

Markets

Inside the Club Thinking
With all due respect to Prof. Rogoff, the problem is not the lack of full “independence”, nor the use of flawed New Keynesian models, but far too much New Keynesian thinking…
Wayne Fitzgibbon, Thinking Differently | Read

Markets

Central banks’ new-old inflationary bias
Listening to central bankers, one would think the recent bout of high inflation was merely an excusable post-pandemic forecasting error made under extreme uncertainty. But this presumes a level of central-bank independence that is simply unrealistic.
Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University | Read

Strategies

Guide to providing advice to wholesale clients
This Guide sets out a procedure to recommend financial products that are only available to Wholesale Clients including the method for classifying a client as a Wholesale Client and common misconceptions about providing advice to them.
Wildflower Capital | 0.50 CE | Read

Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2024

Private debt can counter history
History shows investors should always expect the unexpected – which simply underscores the benefits of adding private debt to a portfolio.
Andrew Tremain, Metrics Credit Partners | 0.50 CE | Listen, Watch

Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2024

Private Credit is a structural evolution, not risky business
Despite outpacing traditional fixed income and even exceeding long-run equity returns, some commentators argue that Private Credit represents emerging systemic risk. That is a fundamental misunderstanding.
Frank Danieli, MA Financial Group | 0.50 CE | Listen, Watch

Finology

Research Review: Financial nudging and financial mindfulness
It is well-established that investors and service providers should take human behaviour into account when making financial decisions. These papers look at how two techniques drawn from psychology - financial nudging and financial mindfulness - can influence investor behaviour.
Ron Bird, Australian National University & Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.50 CE | Read

Forum CE Library - over 800 CE/CPD hours
Complimentary for all Forum members, the Forum’s online on-demand CE Library offers over 800 CE/CPD hours of accredited learning resources, to help members meet the CE/CPD requirements of 20+ governing bodies (regulators, associations, and institutes) including ASIC, APRA, Legislated (AU)/FAAA, FMA and CIMA^® CE/CPD requirements, to name just a few.
Earn CE/CPD hours

Forum CIMA CE Library - over 150 CE hours
This subset of our full 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, Legislated (AU)/FAAA, FMA etc).
Earn CIMA CE hours

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We let my LinkedIn network know as soon as we release new articles on portfolioconstructionforum.edu.au and when registration opens for our face-to-face CE programs. And of course, I’d welcome having an offline direct conversation with you any time.