Investors are increasingly questioning the continued relevance of bonds in their portfolios. But bonds offer enhanced diversification qualities during times of low growth, low inflation and market uncertainty.

Nearly all recent initiatives of the Trump administration will prove to be macroeconomic blunders. The time has come to upgrade the credit quality of investment portfolios and to focus on the currencies of creditor countries.

Recent research examines the performance of active bond managers, and the impact of performance fees on returns of active equity funds and private equity funds.

In nine pages, this paper says all that needs to be said on the ability of any of us to estimate the true value of financial assets. The next two papers produce conflicting findings on the impact of index investing on markets.

Against the backdrop of legislated increases in financial adviser education, standards and ethics, finology must be seen as central to the curriculum of what financial advisers learn and how they practice, for professionalism to be complete.

Practitioners demand a trifecta from fund managers - performance, simplicity, connection. But many great investments are contrarian and uncomfortable.

Too much of our communication with end investors is either irrelevant, unintelligible to the average investor - or worse still, both.

Managed accounts have become increasingly popular with approximately A$40bn in assets. Prepare to ride the managed accounts tsunami or be left in its wake.

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care,” cautioned Theodore Roosevelt. This is especially true when risk is involved.

While robo-advisors have been the big buzz as replacement humans, they’re not (and data proves it). Technology alone is not enough (otherwise everyone with a FitBit on their wrist would be healthy).

Behavioural biases - substitution, aggregation, and feedback risks, overconfidence, and limited attention and availability bias - distort money managers' perceptions and lead them to take risks they don’t see.

Government incentives may help to encourage downsizing but the decision itself may not be purely financial as recent research reveals.

Trust – the belief that those to whom we are vulnerable are both willing and able to act in our interests – is the no.1 factor in the decision to select and retain an asset manager.

The combination of man and machine - tech-augmented humans or "cyborgs" - can be more effective than either alone, posing the greatest opportunity to human financial advisers in the long run.

The Chinese authorities recognise the potential of blockchain technology and are outpacing the US, in the race to develop an "official" cryptocurrency. If the Chinese experiment succeeds, we may witness the start of a new epoch in monetary policy.

For Australian investors, are international markets still attractive sources of growth? Or is the Australian equity market more attractive? Do Australian sovereign bonds remain an anchor portfolio allocation for well diversified portfolios?

China’s Belt and Road initiative is expected to reshape the global economic landscape. However, the plan is poorly understood. It may generate political "returns" but opportunities for investors will be limited.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of America’s retreat are greatly exaggerated. Even if China can sort out its long-term demographic problems, other big challenges loom.

In 2017, the global economy experienced synchronised acceleration for the first time in a decade. The regime shift now underway will challenge portfolio construction designed for the previous regime.

The diversification benefits of bonds increases in a low yield market, and bonds remain one of the best instruments available to investors looking for liability matching as they approach retirement.