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.

Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) 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.

Delta Factors is a returns-based factor analysis tool that will help you create robust portfolios by deepening your understanding of the underlying factors that have truly driven a fund's investment risk and return. It is highly intuitive, visual, fast and cost effective.

Delta Factors subscribers can access the Delta Factors software direct on this page.

It seems plausible. A lack of research means inefficient pricing and lots of opportunities to find bargains, and inefficient markets are full of less skilled investors. Alpha is lying around just waiting to be collected.

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.

With armed conflicts raging in Europe and Middle East, and the prospect of a US-China showdown over Taiwan, many investors believe World War III is increasingly likely. But the Forum's Visiting Fellow, Pippa Malmgren, thinks differently.

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.

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.

With a more benign outlook for interest rates conditions, there is an opportunity to capitalise on the innate earnings power of infrastructure assets.

An Alternative Risk Premia (ARP) approach to investing, rooted in academic research, can deliver more stable and resilient performance even in volatile market conditions.

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.

The market growth and quality of private market alternatives provides investors an opportunity to meaningfully enhance 60/40 with higher returns and less volatility.

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.

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.

In a higher interest rate regime, with a higher correlation between stocks and bonds, replacing public equities with private market investments makes sense.

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.

Our diverse panel of experts identified their key takeouts from Strategies Summit 2024 and the portfolio construction implications.

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. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts! Strategies Summit 2024 (Wed-Thu 21-22 Aug) challenges and refreshes your portfolio construction thinking by debating contemporary and emerging portfolio construction strategies to help you build better quality portfolios.

This lecture instructs IMAC candidates on the diversification benefits and limitations of a multi-asset, multi-manager approach to portfolio construction.

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.

This lecture instructs IMAC candidates on the use of returns-based multi-factor analysis to better understand the underlying drivers of a managed fund's return and risk over its life.

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.

Private debt has grown in popularity as an alternative source of debt financing, with the asset class tripling in size since 2008. This self-paced, two-hour online short course equips you with the expertise to navigate private debt investment confidently across diverse market conditions.

This lecture instructs IMAC candidates on the characteristics and use of alternative assets in multi-asset portfolios.

We appoint active fund managers because we believe they will add value by outperforming the index, and we try to measure that value add as an indication of the manager's investment skill. But how good are the measures we use?

Gold has returned to the international monetary system. Over 50 years ago, US President Richard Nixon "closed the gold window". But now, fiat money is being challenged and the price of gold has reached all-time highs.

Three articles provide us with insights into the impact that the growth in passive management has had on the performance of active managers; the risks taken by active managers and the general efficiency of markets; and, the behaviour of markets.

In 1990, Towers Perrin started spruiking the modern-day investment mandate. I must admit the concept of making investment managers far more accountable seemed rather good. Unfortunately, it most likely left clients worse off.

With just about every equity index globally dominated by a handful of companies, indexed investors might soon discover they are overweight future failure.

The Investment Management Analyst Certificate (IMAC) advances investment management analyst knowledge, skill and expertise in a definitive set of competencies necessary for building and/or advising on quality multi-manager portfolios. It is both a structured post-graduate certificate course in its own right, and the Australian-based Registered Education Program for the global Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) program.

Our Markets Summit program kicks off with a video retrospective of the key events of the prior year...

While investors need to be mindful of the potential risks posed by different stress events, they should largely ignore macro and geopolitical predictions when it comes to selecting companies to invest in. The discussion covered a range of investment topics, from inflation predictions to niche equity opportunities in mid-cap and emerging markets

Investors should explore opportunities beyond the ASX20, focusing instead on the Ex-20 index which provides exposure to Australia's future rather than its past.

Our diverse panel of experts debated the high conviction propositions they heard during Markets Summit 2024 and the portfolio construction implications.

We are in an investment environment like that of the pre-GFC period. Bonds will offer higher levels of both income and diversification, within a multi-asset portfolio.