Forum Fodder - Quarterly CE Alert!

Quarterly CE Alert! | December 2024

Our Quarterly CE Alert! highlights our upcoming live continuing education programs, and all of the complimentary on-demand CE/CPD-accredited resources we’ve published over the past months. Just scroll on down to get going!

The CE/CPD hours you earn can be used to help 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 a few.

Share your views on portfolio management and earn 0.25 CE/CPD hours
We’re pleased to support the annual Investment Trends Portfolio Management Survey by inviting all Forum Practitioner members to take 15 minutes to complete the survey - and, in return, earn 0.25 CE/CPD hours from the Forum, and a $20 visa gift card from Investment Trends and a copy of the highlight findings of the survey so you can compare your views and portfolio management practices with those of your peers. (Your survey answers remain confidential to Investment Trends, and will only ever be shown as part of the aggregate report.) Complete the survey by Sunday 19 January

All the best for another week’s continuing education!
Graham
P.S. Stand for More!  Enrol by 31 December for the 2025 CIMA program.
Certified Investment Management Analyst^® (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-asset, multi-manager portfolios. Find out more and enrol.

Markets

Markets Summit 2025 “Mind the gap(s)”
AEDT Wednesday 19 February 2025
Following several decades of policymaker intervention in financial markets, the gaps between investor sentiment, asset prices and economic fundamentals are increasingly prevalent. This challenges our ability to pinpoint fair value, protect investment portfolios from downside risks, and capture alpha opportunities. Meanwhile, a second Trump presidency promises to further upend the world geopolitical, economic and trade order as Trump attempts to “reinvent” the US government, judicial and political apparatus.
Against this heightened Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) macro backdrop, it is crucial that practitioners identify and understand the gaps in markets to reduce the unavoidable dissonance between our own perceptions and market realities and enable us to better understand what lies ahead for economies and investment markets so we can reorient portfolios accordingly. Mind the gap(s)!
Markets Summit 2025 (Wed 21 Feb) will help you better understand the key drivers of and outlook for the markets to aid your search for return and help you build better quality investor portfolios.
Live studio, live site, or live stream | 7+ CE | Register now!

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Philosophy

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 content **

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 content **

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 (incl 1.00 ethics) | Enrol

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Finology | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Macro Matters! The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!
Powerful geopolitical, demographic, environmental, technological and sociological trends are reshaping our world, impacting investment risk and uncertainty and how best to design portfolios capable of improving the financial well-being of individuals
Macro Matters panel | 1.00 CE | Watch, Listen

Markets

Brushing off the playbook - supply chains after the US election
History is rhyming again. With the return of President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican Congress, the baseline supply chain policies that investors will have to deal with look a lot like those applied in the 2016 to 2020 period.
Chris Rogers, S&P Global | 0.50 CE | Read

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Finology | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Practitioners must consider all of the parts
Our diverse panel of experts identified their key takeouts from Strategies Summit 2024 and the portfolio construction implications.
Key Takeouts panel | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Finology

Research Review: Ethical blindness
Ethical blindness is one answer to the question “Why do good people do bad things?” Together, these two papers strongly reinforce the idea that ethical practice requires that we regularly hit the brakes and check our ethical blind spots.
Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum | 2.00 CE (Ethics) | Read

Strategies | Investing | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Passive can beat active in private markets, too
Private Equity pooled returns have been attractive while also less volatile than investing in a single fund or fund-of-funds. Enabling investors to “buy the private market” would complement portfolios just like in public markets.
Edward Talmor-Gera, NewVest | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Investing | Philosophy

Research Spotlight: Brandywine Global Opportunistic Equity
This Research Spotlight focuses on the Brandywine Global Opportunistic Equity strategy, a benchmark unaware true value global equity strategy that has produced very strong alpha.
Portfolio Construction Forum | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Public market alpha is an overlooked opportunity
Investors need to challenge conventional wisdom around investment style, process and active share and focus on durable sources of alpha that will improve total portfolio returns.
David Wanis, Longwave Capital Partners | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Finology

Research Review: AI in investment management and advice
At one extreme, the whole investment decision-making process could be turned over to AI - at the other, it can just be used in data collection. These two papers capture the challenges of integrating AI into funds management and financial advice processes.
Ron Bird, Portfolio Construction Forum | 2.00 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Philosophy | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

60/40 should not be what it used to be
The market growth and quality of private market alternatives provides investors an opportunity to meaningfully enhance 60/40 with higher returns and less volatility.
Frank Danieli, MA Financial Group | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Finology

Research Review: Algorithm aversion
The financial services industry has long embraced the potential of AI-based systems including robo-advice. These two papers review the psychological and relational dynamics that arise from “algorithm aversion”.
Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.00 CE | Read

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

‘Whole’ portfolios need both public AND private debt
Higher rates and structural changes, such as tighter regulation, are reshaping both public and private debt markets, requiring investors to take a multi-sector and relative value approach across both.
Christian Stracke, PIMCO | 0.50 CE | 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

Strategies | Markets | Investing | Philosophy | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Opportunities still abound in public equity markets
When it comes to investing in public equities, it’s easy to get deterred by media headlines but it’s vital to remember that stocks are not the economy.
Nick Griffin, Munro Partners | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen

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 | Markets | Investing | Philosophy | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Private markets should be used to replace public equities
In a higher interest rate regime, with a higher correlation between stocks and bonds, replacing public equities with private market investments makes sense.
Matthew Michelini, Apollo Global Management | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Philosophy | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

You need to combine multiple alts in your portfolios
It is essential that portfolios are exposed to different, uncorrelated alternative risk factors and capture a variety of available risk premia to maximise risk-adjusted returns.
Antonio Ferrer, LGT Capital Partners | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen

Markets

Reshoring is not permanent - 4 countries that need to stay ahead
Manufacturing reshoring by global multinationals is key to economic development in frontier and emerging markets. Understanding the shifting dynamics can be critical to investment decision-making at both the country and sector level.
Chris Rogers, S&P Global | 0.25 CE | Read

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Infrastructure adds value to your portfolios
With a more benign outlook for interest rates conditions, there is an opportunity to capitalise on the innate earnings power of infrastructure assets.
Gerald Stack and Ben McVicar, Magellan Financial Group | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Optimal portfolios need risk premia
An Alternative Risk Premia (ARP) approach to investing, rooted in academic research, can deliver more stable and resilient performance even in volatile market conditions.
Paul Fraynt, K2 Advisors | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | Investing | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Emerging markets have many more than 7 magnificent companies
Within emerging market economies, there are many companies that have developed to challenge the world’s best businesses. Valuations are attractive and do not reflect the underlying value of the business.
John Stavliotis, Antipodes Partners | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Investing

Research Review: Forecasting fund performance
Research over the last 50+ years has questioned the ability of active fund managers to add value consistently over time. These two papers offer new methods to improve our ability to pick future winners and losers.
Ron Bird, ANU & Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.50 CE | Read

Strategies | Markets | Philosophy | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

Most people don’t understand the drivers of real estate returns
Did you ever wonder why so many pundits got their Australian house price forecasts so wrong? Real estate pricing is not driven by interest rates, population growth, or tax regimes.
Chris Bedingfield, Quay Global Investors | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Philosophy | As seen at Strategies Summit 2024

One account should not rule them all
The widespread adoption of managed account solutions has shown a seismic shift in most investment advisers believing it is too risky to entrust just one active investment manager with building a diversified portfolio for clients.
Chris Hestelow, Allan Gray Australia | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen, Read

Markets

Are supply chains fixed or broken? Outlook for 2024 and beyond
Are supply chains fixed or broken? In the second half of 2024, firms are having to deal with logistics network volatility. Heading into 2025, political and regulatory risks provide risks and opportunities for investors.
Chris Rogers, S&P Global | 0.25 CE | Read

Forum CE Library - over 1,000 CE/CPD hours
Complimentary for all Forum members, the Forum’s online on-demand CE Library offers over 1,000 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.
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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).
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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.