Recently, I attended the Eureka Report Around the World of Investing Forum. The overwhelming impression was that global investing is very new to many Australians.

Only the most die-hard peak-oil proponents, or other gold-bugs, will fail to acknowledge that the commodity bubble has burst. Is it a positive, or negative, for financial markets?

Looking back over the last 40 years, it is clear that, in the next 20 years, successful asset owners and managers are going to listen to Einstein and stop making things too simple.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the "prudent person" approach to playing it as safe as possible in portfolio construction might undergo a significant shift.

The right policies are the opposite of those pursued by the world's major economies. No wonder global growth keeps disappointing. In a sense, we are all Japanese now.

Statistics rarely tell the story clearly. With trial and error, I found that looking at three dimensions of performance assisted my interpretation.

Japan is not going to stop QE next year or the year after or the year after that. This is not Zimbabwe printing money. Japan is important to the global economy - what they do affects everything.

By calling an election now, Abe is betting that a further big fall in the yen - and a consequent further rise in the Nikkei - is no certainty. He may well be right.

The US dollar rally could contribute to the "rebalancing" that has long eluded the world economy. But that is far from guaranteed given the related risks of financial instability.

This white paper serves up a retirement income planning "buffet" - reviewing the two main opposing philosophies and the range of strategies that span the divide.

Ten years ago, hardly anyone talked about low-volatility investing. Now there's growing concern it is becoming an overcrowded trade. There are four arguments against this.

PortfolioConstruction Forum Academy Spring Seminar 2014 features three sessions. This Resources Kit contains the materials for preparing for the Seminar. After the Seminar, it will also contain the presentations for each session.

The world's biggest inaccessible stock market is finally opening to foreigners. Those with strong convictions about the rise of the Chinese consumer may want to take a hard look.

Despite strong returns, it's still hard for investors to think positively about China A shares as an investment. The key is to envisage what the world will look like in 10 to 15 years.

In managing sequence of returns risk, we may not be giving simple rebalancing nearly the credit it deserves to accomplish similar or better than more complex approaches.

Gridlock may be perfectly acceptable in Washington these days - but Europe, like Japan, now badly needs strong political leadership.

The answer seems obvious. But more complicated forces are at work that have reduced real interest rates far below historic norms and may keep them very low for many years.

The media continues to obsess about IS - but the far more investment-relevant development in the Middle East is the sudden return of Libyan crude to the market.

There are good reasons why central bankers receive so much media. But the bubble around their pronouncements grossly exaggerates their economic significance.

A recent survey found "an alarming 60 percent of clients did not know or were unable to answer if they were on track to meet their defined goals". Can yours?

I don't dispute low vol stocks outperform highly vol stocks. But volatility does not explain all of an asset's risk.

The taboo that savers have to be compensated for handing money to a financial institution has been broken, with the ECB's negative rates finally being passed on to retail clients.

It has been my contention for a while that capitalism is returning to its 19th century deflationary roots. Indeed, the evidence has become overwhelming.

The global economy is like a jetliner that needs all of its engines operational to take off. Unfortunately, only one of its four engines is functioning properly.

Last week's volatility surprised many. How should portfolios be positioned? And what does this recent bout of volatility tell us about the economy and financial markets?

One of the originators of CAPM, Sharpe was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. I sat down with him to discuss retirement income planning.

Perhaps the most crucial change in our retirement planning language is simply to rename "retirement".

Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty‐First Century" is certainly the economics book of the year. We have been asked numerous times to appraise his ideas.

Most countries face a trio of inequalities - of income, wealth, and opportunity. Beyond the moral, social, and political implications lies a serious economic concern.

The German word for what we saw in markets this week is Torschlusspanik. Literally "gate-shut-panic", it describes the nasty crush when everyone rushes at once for an exit.

China has about five years to lay the groundwork for the transition to a new monetary policy framework with a currency that is sufficiently flexible.

This particularly relevant review of literature on sequencing risk considers the impact of Australia's age pension on retirement spending strategies.

Relying on Fed tightening to predict the next serious sharemarket weakness may be very dangerous. Perhaps this time really IS different.

Earlier this year, volatility across a whole range of key global assets reached major multi-year lows. But, equity volatility, we expect, has passed it's low for this cycle.

In the US, despite moderate growth, we see very attractive valuations while many emerging markets are undervalued. But 7% growth in China is unrealistic.

The dynamic duo (Kitces and Pfau) are back in their search for the ultimate truth about retirement income planning and how to structure portfolios to minimise drawdowns.

Today is much less reminiscent of 2007, when global equity prices were at similar levels to today, than of 1987. But it seems too early for investors to panic, or even reduce risk.

An increasingly obvious paradox has emerged in global financial markets this year. While geopolitical risks have multiplied, markets remain buoyant, if not downright bubbly.

Investment management has long been the backbone of financial planning. But is it the future for financial advisers? I think not.

EM debt is a relatively new asset class. In any liquid format, it's only been around for about 20 years - and the most attractive part of the EM debt market has yet to re-rate.

Over the next year or two, asset prices will no longer be driven by economic stats and monetary policy. Three major rotations are likely to continue and gather pace.

This paper argues that to make choices regarding smart betas we must first assess whether they're robust. Luckily, it concludes, most so-called factors can be ignored.

IPOs of LICs continue. But LICs have unique challenges and complexities that make them a complicated investment decision - which is certainly not the way they are marketed.

Speculation is building that the Fed will surprise financial markets with a new framework for forward guidance, perhaps as soon as the FOMC meeting on 16/17 September.

If Scotland does vote for independence, it's hard to come up with a positive scenario for British assets.

A big correction in equities, if it hits in the next year or two, is unlikely to be caused by monetary policy expectations.

Robert Merton, 1997 Nobel Prize winner, has recently penned an article about his views on retirement planning. There are some interesting take aways for Australian practitioners.

Modern central banking has worked wonders to bring down inflation. Today, high inflation seems remote. But inflation is only dormant, it is certainly not dead.

Unconstrained debt strategies are flavour of the month, and likely to be very popular amongst investors for several reasons. But where do such funds fit in a portfolio?

Are Term Deposits the most boring subject in finance? Actually, they're anything but. The Australian TD market is an area where it is easy to add demonstrable value for clients.

What do Richard Nixon, novel "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", and Bridgewater Associates have to do with risk parity investing and Conference 2014?

As the first day of our annual Conference program, we hosted the Finology Forum. Our particular focus of finology was as it applies to the giving of investment advice.

This presentation addresses the importance of developing improved and dynamic investment approaches that seek to better understand and manage total portfolio risk as well as identify sources of return.

Individuals are vulnerable to economic and financial risks as they approach and enter retirement. Insights from behavioural finance can be used to enhance risk communication and retirement outcomes.

Investors should be aware of the risks they are exposed to within a portfolio and when they're being paid to take risk (or not). A different approach is needed to build portfolios with better risk awareness.

Formal reports redolent with data and analysis fail to communicate risks as people actually feel them. Reports need to be replaced by rapports, by engaged conversations.

The empirical relation between risk and return in emerging equity markets is flat, or even negative - including controlling for exposures to the size, value and momentum effects.

Company fundamentals don't change nearly as much as equity market prices - and therein lies an opportunity for investors with a longer-term view.

To achieve absolute return objectives, many risk management techniques remain relevant but their application and focus need to change.

Demographic understanding is now one of the most important elements in the areas of government and - importantly for investors - future drivers in financial market returns.

Bonds are no longer risk free. It's time to accept the idea and move on - to broaden the traditional idea of fixed-income as a form of risk mitigation and view it also as a risk-and-return proposition.

China's taken a tough approach to its periphery. This doesn't necessarily spell doom and gloom for Australia and the region.

If geopolitics is far more important in considering investment markets today, how do we integrate geopolitics into portfolio construction?

With global volatility at multi decade lows, the critical questions become: should we be worried or relaxed? What next? In fact, quiescent markets should be feared, not embraced.

In recent years, the risk parity approach to asset allocation has been gaining popularity. Evidence supports it but confidence in its efficacy requires a theoretical justification.

As we sit today with some unprecedented market conditions, it's probably more relevant than ever to understand both sides of the risk and return equation in the fixed income space.

Is risk parity's outperformance in the past decade sustainable or just a quirk of the unusual markets.

To flourish in the robo-advice era, portfolio construction practitioners must provide clients with a positive Return on Attention (ROA), Intimacy (ROI) and Empathy (ROE).

What return premia - if any - are attached to different types of investment risk? And just how reliable those premia are in practice? Can the risks be diversified?

For many Australians, their house is one of their biggest assets, if not the biggest. But a leveraged owner-occupied home is riskier than the sharemarket.

We need to relate to investors in such a way that they can once again know and trust that financial security is a fact, not a feeling.

The traditional approach to portfolio construction is to own a diversified portfolio, adjusting total risk up or down. An alternative is to take a bucket approach.

A sustained period of lower global growth, rich valuations from traditional assets and an eerie calm before the storm in asset price volatility require a different approach to asset allocation.

Public equity valuations have disconnected from underlying earnings and there is a distorted link between perceived and actual risk.

In managing a risk on/risk off world, investors can maintain or increase exposure to growth assets while experiencing a smoother ride.

The top six stocks in the ASX 300 represent 45% of market cap and 50% of market risk. A 4% TE constrained manager must hold 15%-20% in these six stocks even if they do not like them.

The seismic shift in fixed income after a 30-year bull market for bonds has created significant portfolio construction challenges and opportunities.

To ensure risk is genuinely well diversified takes a forward-looking scenario-analysis process to combine quantitative rigor with qualitative insights of the plausible but unlikely extreme stresses we might face.

When looking to reconnect risk and return in portfolios, what better place to start than with the barometer of equity market risk itself?

The size of the global infrastructure asset universe will expand from $40 trillion earlier this decade to over $110 trillion by 2030, presenting significant opportunities to invest.

Alpha Potential is gaining traction as another important quantitative tool. Its use lies in identifying opportunities for active management of Australian equities amongst other asset classes.

Investing in unconstrained fixed income strategies with more flexibility to change duration and sector exposures can have a positive impact on a portfolio’s overall risk and return profile.

If risk and return are imperfectly linked, there is opportunity to increase average return, without increasing risk - particularly in equity markets where risk is mispriced.

In many cases, fundamental risk and return characteristics have been shown the door as funds have flowed into ever lower yielding income asset classes.

The last decade has seen a distinct disconnect between investment risk and return, versus what we're taught should be the case.

Fixed income has changed, and is very different today versus what it was years ago. It makes sense to evolve your portfolios accordingly.

What are the questions that everyone is asking today? When will interest rates spike? And, what about the increased rate of inflation? One has to accept the changing nature of these two elements.

The constant challenge is to keep clients focused on their wealth goal when they are distracted by the many other factors that influence their perception of risk.

To improve client outcomes, financial practitioners must master six basic response skills.

Belief and philosophy when it comes to investing are not enough. Without culture and rigour, it is highly unlikely an investor will maintain their beliefs in all market conditions and cycles.

A common belief amongst financial practitioners is that investors and clients understand the investment objective. But are our investment beliefs a reflection of reality or investment myths?

Needleman said, "Money has a way to bring reality to situations". If so, the challenge is to have more scientific clarity helping to expose what money (and therefore investing) represents in a client's world.

Finology is the emerging (and converging) research field covering the study of minds, customs and behaviours with respect to money. It incorporates behavioural finance, and much, much more.

There may be rocks ahead. Reconnecting risk and return must be the right focus - but thinking conventional tools will keep us out of trouble may be a mistake.

Alpha Potential is gaining traction as a tool to identify opportunities for active management, enhancing the value proposition afforded to active managers.

People often ask me about my outlook for the US housing market. The outlook is improving - and that's constructive for consumer spending, confidence and jobs.

The last decade has seen a disconnect between investment risk and return vs what we're taught should be the case. What is the long-term relationship? Can it be beaten?

A dynamic risk management approach can protect a portfolio again sequencing risk, providing reliable investment returns over the cycle.

This paper reviews the principles, practices, risk management requirements and implementation steps needed to build absolute return focused portfolios.

This paper explores the thesis that capturing the traditional relationship of fixed income in the total client portfolio will require more untraditional approaches going forward.

To ensure risk is genuinely well diversified takes a sophisticated forward-looking scenario-analysis process to combine quantitative rigor with qualitative insights of extreme stresses it might face.

Six stocks make up just under half of the Australian equity market. This research paper examines the impact of this on investors' returns, and whether it is responsible investing.

This paper explores the opportunities within private equity and private debt and examines their role in providing downside protection for investors.

This paper explores a different approach to asset allocation and alternative returns sources to reduce the reliance on traditional asset classes and drive returns.

This research paper discusses (in simple terms) how to reconnect the concept of Risk and Return via the practical application of volatility derivatives to portfolios.

Over the past 40 years, the high-yield landscape has grown exponentially. Knowing the key risks and emerging opportunities can help map a path forward.

Uncertainty about the timing of future interest rate rises poses challenges to fixed income investors. This paper identifies options available in managing portfolios in such an environment.

After two decades of elevated earnings and PEs - and two bear markets but also three bull markets - many are questioning whether Shiller CAPE is all that predictive.

Risk assets are grinding higher and volatility is extraordinarily low - and monetary stimulus is still plentiful. What does life after zero (rates) look like?

Since 2010, there has been an almost perfect correlation between the strength of the US economy and stock markets outside the US. But this is set to diminish.

We've come to accept a world where the US drives what happens in the global economy and markets. But that's changing - with significant implications for portfolios.

The escalating conflict in Ukraine has focused attention on a fundamental question: What are the Kremlin's long-term objectives?

Going forward, instead of 5% real, traditional stocks and bonds will offer about 2.5%. But there are many things you can do to bridge the gap.

Investing can and often is intellectually compelling. But it should not be driven by excitement, as it is for many individuals.

Those who warn of grave dangers if speculative price increases are allowed to continue are right, even if they can't prove there is cause for concern.

Are equities at the end of a five-year cyclical bounce or the start of a 15-year structural breakout? History suggests two contradictory answers.

New research found 78% of consumers care about being comfortable in the future - that alone tells us where the future is for advisers.

It is not surprising that bond managers have significant difficulty in outperforming a market cap-weighted benchmark.

This paper is a great introduction to why behavioural finance is quickly becoming recognised as a field that can add real value to the wealth management industry.

As investment professionals, we live investing every day. We spend excessive time reporting and not enough 'rapporting.'

The GFC was the first crisis where good risk profiling tools were in place for a wide range of investors. Two papers look at whether risk tolerances altered materially through it.

Do geopolitical events involving potential or actual military conflict really matter in the constructing of investment portfolios?

The recent US supreme court ruling that Argentina's hold-out creditors have the right to be paid in full is a dangerous decision for all countries for two reasons.

Are we at the start of a long-term bond bear market? Here are three factors that I expect to keep bond yields lower for longer, and five important implications for investors.

The upcoming US/China 6th Strategic & Economic Dialogue is an opportunity for serious reconsideration of the relationship between the world's two most powerful countries.

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo 100 yrs ago tomorrow lit the fuse to WW1. There are many points of modern relevance in the catastrophe.

This paper examines the oft-considered subject of hedge fund returns, finding far greater dispersion than for traditional fund managers.

The staple of retirement planning - save a percentage of income - makes it surprisingly difficult to ever reach retirement. The alternative is much easier and more successful.

Everyone knows bond rates are going up - so why would you buy fixed interest? Actually, there are three really good reasons.

PortfolioConstruction Forum Academy Winter Seminar 2014 featured four sessions: Risk, return & relating; Statistics, lies, and investment performance analysis; How safe are safe withdrawal rates in retirement?; and, Communicating and learning with and from clients.

The Islamist surge through central Iraq has the potential to upset the plans of investors who've convinced themselves that volatility is in the past.

What we are witnessing in Iraq is a war within Islam. Will it mutate into a broader regional war thereby threatening oil supplies?

Here are some brief thoughts on four issues that matter a lot, in our view. Two have been poorly discussed in the financial press, and the other two have been ignored completely.

Moving to a twenty-first-century currency system would make it far simpler to move to a twenty-first-century central-banking regime as well.

Investing differently gives no certainty of great results (increasing the odds of being wrong as well as right). But it is a necessary but not sufficient ingredient for great performance.

Last week's most important financial event was not US payroll data, the ECB, or the rapprochement with Putin. It was the pricing of Uber, at 60 times rumoured revenues.

Are we any good at estimating the values of our homes? Surprisingly, on average we are, according to a RBA study. It also found a link to weightings of risky assets in portfolios.

Tomorrow we expect to see the latest Band-Aid solution being applied to the eurozone. Forgive me if I don't roll out the barrel. As I see it, there are four key problems.

Across the industry, portfolio rebalancing is the norm - with little agreement on the optimal frequency. So I experimented to find out which frequency is best.

NZ FMA new CEO, Rob Everett, gave an interesting briefing by way of introduction. It contained a very strong warning for the short term, and an intriguing line of thinking for the longer term. Both focused on behaviour.

Today's backlash against trade and globalisation should be viewed in the context of what, as we know from experience, could come next.

Markets are pricing in expectations that the ECB will have to be very aggressive next week if it is to turn back the tide of European deceleration. It's reminiscent of October 1987.

Nobody is more outspokenly bearish on Japan than Kyle Bass. He recently reiterated doubts about Japan's chances of averting a debt crisis, and cast doubt on China's economy.

Most research assumes retirees maintain a consistent standard of living. A new study disproves this, implying we may be overestimating funds needed to retire by up to 20%.

Three interrelated aspects of practically managing client portfolios - constructing portfolios using buckets, diversifying human capital, and the Withdrawal Policy Statement.

Our Symposium NZ 2014 faculty debated that the best way for practitioners to manage a client's primary risk of not meeting their objectives is to manage the long-term uncertainty of returns.

This paper and presentation argue that starting period equity valuations impact not just medium-term equity returns, but medium-term equity volatility and bond-equity correlations also.

This paper and presentation argue against the use of debt-weighted benchmarks for global bond managers, in favour of a better approach to setting an appropriate benchmark.

This paper and presentation argue that understanding what is going on under the bonnet at central banks is key to understanding what will drive markets, and how best to position portfolios.

Using risk factors in evaluating investments in the portfolio construction process can provide valuable information about the true drivers of performance.

There's some evidence that some managers can add (relatively) consistent value net of costs. Can we (or anyone) identify them?

Are the human and organisational barriers to being better investors insurmountable, or can we learn and improve our decision-making?

Recorded at the recent Symposium 2014, this session examined the truth as to whether regulation makes markets more efficient or causes markets to produce lower returns.

In the wake of the GFC, the public's belief in the free market has taken a battering. But for all its flaws, capitalism remains the best way of creating prosperity.

This paper and presentation provide an introduction to the risk tolerance paradox, exploring the main reason it exists, and introducing risk management strategies that seek to solve the problem.

This paper and presentation argue that there are real sign-posts that clearly suggest that the US is off its knees and ready to surprise the world on the upside, with significant implications for markets and portfolios.

This paper and presentation argue that the bond market can offer compensation against rising rates through roll down and active management of forwards.

Central banks must complete the Great Unwind – removing ultra-easy monetary policies. The critical period for markets will come when the Fed lifts short-term rates (probably, but not necessarily, after tapering ends).

The majority of the world will see an improvement in economic growth this year. While equities remain the most attractive asset class, they will need a more nimble approach.

Graham Rich opened Symposium 2014 in his usual thought-provoking (and entertaining) way, highlighting key issues to consider over the jam-packed, marathon program.

While it is well established that equity valuations impact medium-term equity returns. It is less well known that starting period equity valuations also impact medium-term equity volatility and bond-equity correlations.

Faced with the prospect of rising yields, some investors are cutting bond allocations. But the bond market can offer compensation against rising rates.

The US is undeniably the critical market within the global economy - and there are real sign-posts that clearly suggest it is ready to surprise the world on the upside.

If you were lending somebody money, would you lend them more money just because they had more debt? If you are investing according to a debt-weighted benchmark, that is exactly what you are doing.

Understanding what is going on under the bonnet at central banks is key to understanding what will drive markets – and therefore how to best position portfolios.

Having redefined media, technology, the Internet and social media will soon likely start transforming how capital is mobilised and allocated.

There is huge variety in retirement income strategies. This paper introduces "longevity risk aversion" and its impact on safe withdrawal rates.

Often, the true dangers reside where investors are most comfortable going and the best opportunities are where investors fear to tread.

Whatever return forecasts you make will be wrong - so you better have a portfolio that has the opportunity to make money in a very broad spectrum of investment outcomes.

It is time to start looking at alternative assets. Not because there is any pressing need to invest today, but because thorough analysis takes time and mistakes can be expensive.

Older adults are crossing the most challenging and complex frontier of their lives. To earn a role with them, financial advisers have to learn more about how older clients think and communicate.

As Glen Whitman argues, "What distinguishes good economic thinking from bad is recognition of the subtle, creative, and often unforeseen ways that people respond to incentives."

Long-standing historical grievances among China, Japan, Korea, India, and others remain open wounds. Why are tensions among Asia's great powers becoming more serious?

Valuation is not just an important driver of investment returns but also of investment volatility.

Studying economics these days, it is quite possible to get a degree without ever having come across the name of a single economist. This is a pity and it is not really appropriate to a social science.

There is an enormous power and prestige for a profession in doing public good. Done correctly, we will stand a good chance of earning more respect than politicians in future Reader's Digest polls.

It is fine to have positive returns year-in, year-out as an objective or goal. But, absolute returns should never be presented as an expectation, as disappointment is inevitable.

Towers Watson's compendium of insights into global equity investing contains useful insights about issues many portfolio construction practitioners face every day.

An empirical study found that in advanced economies, the greatest factor that has increased the growth of government is the welfare state. Economists are highly sceptical about such transfers.

As investment advisers, we love to inundate prospective clients with data. But disseminating large amounts of data is actually counter productive.

Stein's law, a rule of thumb for politics, economics and business, is that "If something can't continue, it will stop." Here are four inevitable changes in the investing environment.

Fortunately, New Zealand consistently ranks near the top of international indices measuring economic freedom. But this also means that we might take it too much for granted.

Divorcing your debt benchmark and adopting more unconstrained approach to debt investing and offering degrees of freedom to the portfolio manager is the new "core".

The Academy Autumn Seminar 2014 featured four sessions: 10 golden rules for portfolio construction; Reassessing the global debt spectrum; Currency revisited - to hedge or not to hedge; Volatility investing - the next frontier.

Against a backdrop of currency slides, yield spikes and chronic equity underperformance, we invited our EM experts to defend their asset class against three charges.

Target date funds are becoming the workhorse for DC plans but there are problems with the approach. This paper offers a portfolio construction framework to overcome them.

Recently, I ran a session for a group of 20-years plus CFP veterans. What became evident was that their idea of using technology and engaging collaboratively with clients was very different to mine.

The active versus passive debate was recently given a boost when Warren Buffet suggested in his annual letter that most investors are better off investing passively.

The Fed's published policy on how it will exit QE is fairly old. Overall, though, there is not a huge overhang of securities that the Fed needs to sell to exit.

In recent months, we've highlighted one school of research on funding retirement income, being the sustainable withdrawal rate approach. This paper takes a different approach.

George W. Bush allegedly once said, "the problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." Indeed, most people have no idea what entrepreneurship really means.

A recent Australian study of how clients prefer to be communicated with from their financial advisers sheds some interesting light on the challenge.

The challenge for investors over the past several years is that diversification did not work as expected. The dynamic nature of correlation must be factored into portfolio modeling.

While most financial advisers aspire to work with HNW clients, very few successfully do so with any scale or significance. Most advisers will have a few HNW clients, but all too few of them. Why?

So the US budget deficit is contracting because government consumption is falling? It is really just an accounting illusion. Financial repression is still the order of the day.

Economic, financial, and geopolitical risks are shifting. A year or two ago, six risks stood at center stage. These have now reduced. But six others have been growing.

In theory, recent currency devaluations should make EM countries more competitive. But they're also facing a technological jump that they may not be able to keep up with.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Polonius's advice was "Neither a borrower nor a lender be For loan oft loses both itself and friend." In contrast, borrowing and lending between strangers makes the world a better place.

When meeting with a prospect for the first time, financial advisers should limit discussion about their background to 3 minutes and address the 4 key questions most prospects want answered.

Just as it is hard to make a blockbuster film every time, no leader can consistently shape the narratives that affect the economy. But they need to try.

Does Fama and French's latest work, A Five-Factor Asset Pricing Model, provide any information that can be of practical value to advisers or investors? The answer is no.

When any investment and, in particular, an alternative investment begins to be considered mainstream with attendant big inflows, the end is generally nigh.

The nature of target date funds - encompassing multiple objectives and changing asset allocations over time - raises challenges for performance reporting.

2014 is likely to be a year of genuine improvement in the global economy, and one where uncertainty is rather low.

The Fed's clear message from yesterday's FOMC meeting is that it will stay the course on exiting QE as gracefully and slowly as possible.

What impact has the FMA's Guidance Note: Limited Personalised Advice published in December had on how advisers handle lower value clients?

It is through competition between wants and different ways of satisfying them, that markets create prosperity. In economic thinking, competition has two main functions.

Will each future generation continue to enjoy a better quality of life than its immediate predecessor? The likely answer is yes, but the risks seem higher.

As the logic goes, retired clients deplete their portfolios, and more pass away as the years go by, so a firm with aging clients is akin to a rapidly depreciating asset. But is this true?

It's the eternal debate - can active management outperform? Two recent reports offer some interesting insights into the issue.

If you believe the US State Department has the Crimean situation under control, plan for a bullish scenario for risk assets. Plan for the opposite, if you believe Putin will prevail.

Central banks stand at the apex of the banking confidence pyramid but cannot insulate the public from the consequences of collective fiscal and financial follies.

A new research paper looks specifically at withdrawal rates in the Australian context, confirming the legislated minimums for account-based pensions are much too high.

Australians are waking up to the fact that they have not had enough global (mainly equity) exposure. Why the case for more global exposure now?

It is common knowledge that a trusted adviser has a far higher chance of selling products or services than one who is not trusted. However, what is meant by the word trust?

Increasing corporate activity in the US, and a more positive US macro-economic backdrop make US micro-cap stocks a good place to invest for the next five to 10 years.

As competition in the financial advice business intensifies, advisers must focus on those activities that add the most value for clients.

Few economists are more famous than the commonly regarded founder of economics, Adam Smith. Over 238 years later, his ideas are still relevant.

When investment experts are in agreement, we should always ask what could go wrong with the consensus.

In finance and geopolitics, experience must always prevail over hope, and realism over wishful thinking. A grim case in point is the Russian incursion into Ukraine.

Communicating with clients is one of an adviser's most important responsibilities. In the modern world, the options of how to do this are many. What works?

In rapid-fire presentations, 18 experts from various parts of the world debated the biggest issue facing the financial world.

If we're explaining a "norm" to clients that embeds a social proof, we should be using norms that show what is successful, not describing the commonality of failure!

In a new format for Markets Summit 2014, delegates took the role of CIO for the day, as the 18 strong presenter faculty made the case for their highest conviction insights.

Normal is not our experience - today's world is different from anything in the history of human capitalism. The Aquarium Theory of Investing is one way to gain perspective.

Our Markets Summit faculty debated two critical issues arising from Unconventional Monetary Policy; for the coming two to three years, to substantially overweight DM vs EM Equities in portfolios and substantially overweight Short vs Long Duration Bonds.

We must challenge common assumptions about the US and emerging markets to ensure we are focusing on the best routes to the right destination.

Emerging Markets were a focal point in 2013, repricing as US stimulus, commodity prices and China's boom subsided. In future, EM performance will depend on individual merit.

The US is the critical market of the global economy - and there are sign-posts that clearly suggest it is ready to surprise on the upside, with significant implications for portfolios.

A rise in US Treasury yields is likely to have a profound impact on benchmarks. Bonds should remain a critical component of portfolios, but a more active approach is necessary.

Think about bonds as an insurance policy for portfolios. With higher yields available, very cheap insurance is even better able to pay for hurdles facing portfolios.

To achieve the Great Escape, central banks must first complete the Great Unwind – the removal of ultra-easy monetary policies. So what is the roadmap for the Great Unwind?

Ultra-low interest rates and QE have offset the deflationary forces of debt deleveraging. The challenge policy makers face is when to withdraw the stimulus to avert inflation.

Breaking Unconventional Monetary Policy (B.U.M.P.) and it's impact on global financial stability is the key risk for the foreseeable future.

In a Great Escape world, ignoring the index and actively seeking growth investments regardless of size or weightings is more important than ever.

The ability to pick inflection points in markets as well as deploying TAA across credit will be the key ingredient going forward.

Short-term rates are likely to remain low for a prolonged period of time. Investors will still need to source yield, they'll simply have to be more creative to find it.

After a half decade of weakness, robust growth in the US and UK is setting the stage for unconventional monetary policies to be unwound.

There is no doubt that some countries are better placed than others in The Great Escape. In fact, Australia and NZ have the chance to be rock star economies of the 21st century.

If the US and China prove to be prescient and 'ahead of the curve', financial markets will flourish; if they dawdle, we'll see yet another boom and bust cycle that ends in tears.

Most of the world will see an improvement in economic growth this year. Equities are by far the most attractive asset class - but they will be much more volatile.

Today's long period of very easy money and very low yields has distorted the financial system. This will cause unintended consequences in the near future as QE ends.

The thought-provoking (and entertaining) introduction to Markets Summit 2014 - The Great Escape - What will markets be like in the QE runout?

The boom demographic joining Facebook is age 65+ at the moment. If retirees are flocking to social media channels, shouldn't you?

Why Unconventional Monetary Policy is undertaken, how it works, what it does, whether it's inflationary, and some of the unintended consequences.