This Academy Seminar debated three carefully selected topics, in a Socratic learning environment: Currency (to hedge or not to hedge); Adventures in asset allocation; and, The US economy (now and possible future scenarios)...

Our global debt investment experts - Kumar Palghat of Kapstream Capital and Dan Norman of ING Investment Management - gave their views of the current status and 2010-2012 outlook for the global debt markets including the key risks and opportunities, and signposts to watch for...

Are we there yet? Having passed through the GFC fire, and survived largely in tact, it was time to confirm the lessons learned and revisit the road(s) to recovery. A dozen independently selected investment experts engaged in a high quality discussion of investment markets and the risks and opportunities ahead in 2010-2012...

PortfolioConstruction Markets Summit 2010 kicked off with publisher, Graham Rich, asking whether we be satisfied with the past decade of success - during which we unwittingly travelled through an historical inflection point of modern history - and asked in terms of the post GFC economic recovery "are we there yet?"...

The business, economic and investment landscape of the 21st century will be defined by the Big Rapidly Industrialising Countries, in particular Brazil, Rusia, India and China. Delegates left this Emerging Markets Masterclass with a deeper understanding of the global emerging markets and their growing role in investment portfolios - as well as hearing from the BRIC Ambassadors to Australia on their first joint appearance...

The 6-hour Due Diligence Forum is one of two key components of the annual PortfolioConstruction Conference. The 2009 Due Diligence Forum program featured 24 international and local investment experts presenting presenting pre-approved research papers. This Resources Kit contains those papers, along with presentation slides, podcasts and questions/comments...

The 12-hour Critical Issues Forum is one of two key components of the annual PortfolioConstruction Conference. It is a totally independent, interactive program with a strong focus on implementation. This Resources Kit provides the videos, podcasts and presentation slides from the 2009 program, featuring 10 intensive, interactive sessions and 20 selected international and local portfolio experts...

The 2009 Conference was the first post Global Financial Crisis, and hence the theme was "investing in the new reality". It was a very different investment environment compared to a year prior - some things had changed forever; others only temporarily. Some things had not changed at all. But which was which? What WAS the new reality? And what did it mean for construction investor portfolios? This resources kit features videos, podcasts, papers and presentations from the three-day program featuring 33 quality sessions featuring 36 carefully selected local and international portfolio experts...

This Critical Issues Forum from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 - featuring Tim Farrelly and our six Due Diligence Forum Researchers - ensured delegates determined their key take outs from Conference, and actions to take as a result when building investor portfolios...

This Critical Issues Forum from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 - featuring Greg Cooper of Schroders and James Purvis of Active Portfolios - explored a variety of practical and useful portfolio risk management tools that Practitioners can apply when building investor portfolios...

This Critical Issues Forum from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 - featuring the Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates - argued that the cult of equities is dangerous, that is, we cannot blindly believe in "stocks for the long run". Investors must examine the many out-of-mainstream fixed-income asset classes, some currently offering the same 2.5% long-term historical risk premium of equities but with more diversification and less volatility...

This Critical Issues Forum from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 - featuring the legendary Bill Gross of PIMCO - argued that despite early signs that some asset classes are beginning to show signs of recovery, any suggestion that asset markets are returning to "normal" must be met with the question "What’s normal?"...

This Critical Issues Forum from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 - featuring London-based Chris Watling of Longview Economics - argued that a key feature of the new, post Global Financial Crisis world is that the structural strength of the global economy now resides in the emerging market economies...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper and Presentation from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 explains that the lesson of 2008 was that "income isn't income" – not all fixed income strategies proved to be defensive, liquid and diversified. This research paper revisits where some fixed income investors went wrong, and shows how to construct genuinely defensive portfolios that focus on delivering the hallmarks of quality fixed income strategies...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper and Presentation from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 argues that the disintermediation for capital raising for SME’s has opened up significant investment opportunities for direct lenders. In short, SME’s needs are the same as medium- to large-sized enterprises but access to capital is not the same, thus producing an environment where investors can cherry pick their deal prospects...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper and Presentation from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 argues that, in harsh terms, there has been a Darwinian like clean out of bad ideas and poor execution for REITs and investors alike, and examines how the REIT industry disappointed investors, and the long term merits of the sector...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper and Presentation from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 shows that over a 20-year period, residential property has produced above average total returns compared to other asset classes, and with lower volatility than Australian shares. This research paper argues the benefits available for investors of including residential property in a diversified portfolio...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper and Presentation from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 explores the changes in Asia over the last 10 years and factors likely to affect prospects for the Asian region over the coming years, and gives insights needed to re-evaluate the investment opportunities in this region...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper and Presentation from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 argue that active extension remains the most efficient structure to deliver alpha in the Australian equity market and that the most significant impediment to capturing returns from any investment process remains the long only constraint...