Mid this year, ASIC concluded its enquiry into allegations of wrongdoing and criminal behaviour at IOOF, related mainly to the research team and its then head. The real "scandal" turned out to be about reckless and biased elements of the media (and politicians).

Many worry that "the new normal" may be over, that the peak of the bond market has been reached, and so forth. We agree in part with this new view and offer some pointers to help navigate the bond market shoals ahead.

A growing body of research on the actual spending habits of retirees finds spending declines over time, implying retirees may not need to be saving as much to retire.

This week's Fodder includes a new Resources Kit on the topic of values and investing, Dom McCormick on the post-Trump market rally, Harvard Professor Carmen Reinhart explains why investors are already voting with their feet in advance of the upcoming popular referendum in Italy, and Stephen Hayes outlines what investors should do in the face of overinflated real asset valuations.

This week's Fodder includes a new Resources Kit on the topic of values and investing, Dom McCormick on the post-Trump market rally, Harvard Professor Carmen Reinhart explains why investors are already voting with their feet in advance of the upcoming popular referendum in Italy, and Stephen Hayes outlines what investors should do in the face of overinflated real asset valuations.

Following the victory of the Leave campaign in the UK Brexit referendum and of Donald Trump in the US election, focus has shifted to the upcoming referendum in Italy. There is a disquieting real-time poll of investor sentiment.

Does our character manifest itself in our investing decisions? This Resources Kit presents 10 key research papers, presentations and opinion pieces around what determines values, how values impact ethics and behaviour, and the relationship to trust.

I wonder whether this post-Trump market rally and associated bullish economic and market narrative will come to be seen as one of the more prominent historical examples of poorly timed and lazy market groupthink.

Hundreds of thousands of words have been written about the "shock" of being Trumped. Now is an ideal time to challenge one of your portfolio construction beliefs - does geopolitics matter as a driver of the long-term outlook for markets (in a recent survey, 75% of our Members agreed it does). Or, do you believe it's in the "too hard" box?

Hundreds of thousands of words have been written about the "shock" of being Trumped. Now is an ideal time to challenge one of your portfolio construction beliefs - does geopolitics matter as a driver of the long-term outlook for markets (in a recent survey, 75% of our Members agreed it does). Or, do you believe it's in the "too hard" box?

A Trump administration means a significant shift in Washington policy for at least the next four years. There are five key areas in which Trump's policy decisions could have an economic impact.

Investors should make no mistake. The key pillars of Trump's campaign are de-globalisation, higher fiscal spending, and protecting entitlements at current levels. What are the investment implications?

Markets are fixated on how high the Fed will raise interest rates in the next 12 months. This is dangerously shortsighted. The real concern should be how far it could cut rates in the next deep recession.

Active Share can be an effective way to evaluate the appropriateness of a fund manager's fee. Low Active Share funds should come with index-fund-like fees.

Over the span of history, there are few years that can genuinely be considered as years on which the history of the world turned. BREXIT may be one for the UK.

The belief that innovative and extremely easy monetary policy on its own would restore a suitable level of economic growth and inflation was wrong, both in theory and in practice.

Variable withdrawal strategies for retirement spending are receiving more attention. Optimal asset allocations for such strategies are quite different to rules of thumb based on fixed withdrawal strategies.

Until recently, the expectation was that if professional economists achieved a technocratic consensus on a given policy approach, political leaders would listen.

The Australian sharemarket’s high weight to resource stocks is an accident of history and geography. A lower than market cap weight to resource stocks in portfolios seems much more sensible.

Only 1 in 10 listed companies globally achieved sustainable, profitable growth over the decade. A disproportionate number had a founder still running the firm or who remains on the Board.