Forum Fodder

Forum Fodder | 23 May 2025

“My guess is that 2025 will unfold like the first Jaws movie… inhabitants of Amity Island sigh in relief after they catch a [shark], only to realise that a much bigger one is still stalking beachgoers. Tariffs are the small shark; a [US] fiscal crisis is the bigger one.” - Peter Berezin, BCA Research (16 May 2025)

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

Markets

Mercantilism isn’t all bad, but Trump’s version is the worst
When economists celebrate the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations next year, President Trump’s mercantilism will constitute an incongruous backdrop.
Dani Rodrik, Harvard University | Read

Markets

Is the "old world order” really gone for good?
I have significantly rethought the likely implications of the Trump administration’s impact on the world’s economies and polities. I am more optimistic.
Woody Brock, SED | Read

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Mind the gap(s) between market perception and investing reality
As we progress through the Trumpification of markets, the political and information prism through which we view the world will help us mind the gap(s) between market perception and investing reality.
Jonathan Pain, The Pain Report | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen

Strategies | Markets | As seen at Markets Summit 2025

Caution - we must mind the gap(s)!
Near- and medium-term gaps in current market narratives and perceptions lead to a simple conclusion - it is time for caution.
Wayne Fitzgibbon, Thinking Differently | 0.25 CE | Watch, Listen

Investing | Finology

Research Review: Private equity - buyer beware
Private equity is promoted as providing returns several per cent higher than investing in public equity markets. These two papers reveal the true returns that private equity delivers to investors, identifying the real winners (the managers).
Ron Bird, ANU & Portfolio Construction Forum | 1.00 CE | 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

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

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

Forum CE Library - over 1,000 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 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).
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.