Forum Fodder

Forum Fodder | 16 May 2025

“This time events are very different. This time we have the world’s most powerful man calling one of the world’s most influential men a “total stiff” whilst throwing a hand grenade into the engine room of the global economy… No, we don’t see that every day! In short, Powell is between a rock and a hard place, with his monetary policy hands being tied with abrasive stagflationary rope.” - Jonathan Pain, writing in The Pain Report (10 May 2025)

All the best for another week’s continuing education!
Graham

Markets

Trump’s misguided plan to weaken the dollar
With President Trump’s tariff war in full swing, attention is turning to the “Mar-a-Lago Accord”, a plan to weaken the dollar. Clever as it might be, but it is based on a flawed diagnosis.
Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University | Read

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Minding the market gap(s) is essential to MAMMI expertise
Understanding the drivers of and outlook for the markets is essential to multi-asset, multi-manager investing (MAMMI). However, MAMMI is full of traps. As the saying goes “It’s simple, it’s just not easy!”.
Dan Farmer & Michael Furey | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Quality private credit minds the default gap
As the private credit sector grows, it faces increasing media scrutiny, making a manager’s approach to disclosure of default rate and causes an increasingly important consideration for investors.
Andrew Lockhart, Metrics Credit Partners | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Forget the gap - mind the private equity chasm in portfolios
In mid-market Australian private equity, where inefficiencies and hands-on value creation thrive, outsized returns are being captured beyond the public eye.
Ed Bigazzi, Five V Capital | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Finology | Philosophy

Research Review: Moral judgments
Ethical standards and codes serve as guiding principles for professionals - but the application is rarely straightforward. This paper reviews recent literature on moral judgment and the behavioural implications.
Rob Hamshar, Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.00 CE (Ethics!) | Read

Markets

America’s economic tailwinds will override Trump and his tariffs
Good article that articulates what we have been telling our clients all year…
Colin Austin, DecisionMakers | Read

Strategies | Markets

Thinking Differently About Markets
Embracing complexity economics to better understand how markets really work
The Thinking Differently About Markets subscription service enables a deeper and more realistic understanding of economic and financial dynamics, empowering greater clarity and agility in portfolio construction.
Subscribe and join a Community of Practice that recognises that the traditional tools and theories of economic orthodoxy are not sufficient, and embraces complexity economics - in which the economy is more akin to an ecosystem, the brain, or the internet than to the mechanistic models of traditional theory. Thinking Differently About Markets will help you create robust portfolios by deepening your understanding of how economies and markets really work. Find out more!

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 *

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

Markets

America’s economic tailwinds will override Trump and his tariffs
Even if Mickey Mouse were president, the US would still be on the way to 4% growth, because US private-sector innovation promises to offset bad policies and erratic policymaking.
Nouriel Roubini, Roubini Macro Associates | Read

Markets

The global split accelerates
I have long argued the world is bifurcating into two economic ecosystems, one led by America, the other by China. As is now obvious to the world, the split is accelerating.
Vikram Mansharamani | Read

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Mind the defensive equities gap in portfolios
For the last decade, technology companies have been rallying. But quality investing is more than just tech. Defensive equity growth opportunities can fill a defensive gap in portfolios.
Alan Pullen, Magellan Financial Group | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Unlisted infrastructure uniquely fills a portfolio gap
The heightened VUCA macro environment, coupled with unprecedented industry and government catalysts, is creating a generational investment opportunity for infrastructure.
Andrew Killesteyn, Palisade Investment Partners | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Investing | Philosophy

Research Spotlight: Talaria Global Equity
This Research Spotlight focuses on the Talaria Global Equity strategy, a value-biased global equities exposure executed through the use of exchange traded options.
Portfolio Construction Forum | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Markets

Stagflation for the ages
The supply-chain disruptions during the Covid pandemic look almost quaint compared to the fundamental reordering of global trade now underway and which threatens a prolonged period of stagflation.
Stephen Roach, Yale University | Read

Markets

The Inquisitor: Trump’s tariffs are a disaster – Woody Brock
While some people argue that US trade tariffs will boost the domestic economy, history shows that such policies will more likely reduce international trade and increase unemployment around the world, Dr Woody Brock explains…
Robert Huebscher, Portfolio Construction Forum | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets As seen at Markets Summit 2025

SMID caps provide more opportunity gaps than large caps
The lower coverage of SMID Caps means greater opportunity to exploit market mispricing relative to large caps.
James Rodda, Antipodes Partners | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets As seen at Markets Summit 2025

AI plus Big Data finds hidden gaps in global small caps
By combining AI, alternative data sets, and human expertise, investors can identify new themes, access untapped markets, and capitalise on market dislocations.
Dennis Walsh, Goldman Sachs Asset Management | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Mid caps can fill the Aussie large cap growth gap
Investors should pivot exposure to the growing number of high quality, mid-cap companies that have reinvested to develop market-leading products with global opportunities and long runways for growth.
Ron Sargeant, Bennelong Australian Equity Partners | 0.50 CE | Watch, Listen

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Forum CIMA CE Library - over 170 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).
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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.