New this week - Our new backgrounder and Markets Summit key takeouts plus Dom McCormick on currency and Jonathan Pain's outlook for 2015

In this not-to-be-missed session of a not-to-be-missed program few prisoners were taken in debating the moot "overweight int'l equities, underweight Au equities.

Investing globally is increasingly popular with the expectation of a continued weak AUD being a big driver. But easy currency gains may have been had.

New research suggests that the best things to do to improve our happiness may lie in NOT trying to maximise our wealth.

In this simulated investment board meeting, our day's 17 international and local Faculty members debated and voted on whether to overweight international equities and underweight Australian equities in portfolios on a two- to three-year view.

That the global economy didn’t kick on in 2014 may instill some scepticism among investors about 2015’s prospects. There are five important themes to consider through 2015.

Focus on structural reform and potential room for monetary easing provides a positive backdrop for India in the current global context.

EM equities and fixed income enjoyed a boom in the 2000s. Now after several years of relative underperformance, EMs appear to be on the cusp of stronger growth.

The US secondary corporate bond market is in a time of significant upheaval. Changes to regulations has caused a new, insidious liquidity risk.

At first glance, it appears that the US job market has healed. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. The US still has substantial excess labor supply.

Japan has become a nation to which many investors are largely indifferent. But individual Japanese stocks offer some of the most compelling asymmetric risk/return profiles within the equity landscape.

As the US potentially enters its sixth year of expansion, we are optimistic its economy can continue on a steady trajectory throughout 2015. Elsewhere in the world, the outlook is murkier.

After a run of historically rapid improvement in living standards in the first decade of the millennium, emerging markets will face a more challenging outlook - not a crisis - over the next few years.

An emphasis on tactical asset allocation, careful bottom-up security selection and prudent relative value decisions are going to be critical in 2015.

This Backgrounder defines the terms "cyclical", "structural"" and "secular" and provides examples, in order to increase the clarity of debate about what's really driving markets.

PortfolioConstruction Forum Academy Summer Seminar 2015 featured four sessions. This Resources Kit contains the materials for preparing for the Seminar, as well as the presentation slides.

Who would have thought that six years after the GFC, most advanced economies would still be swimming in an alphabet soup?

New this week - BCA on geopolitics and investing (1.25cpd), Edessess on benchmarking, Priest on share buy backs, Gay on wage inflation, Griffen on Japan

New this week - BCA on geopolitics and investing (1.25cpd), Edessess on benchmarking, Priest on share buy backs, Gay on wage inflation, Griffen on Japan

Share repurchases have recently been receiving a lot of press, much of it critical. We see dividends and share repurchases as equal ways of returning excess free cash flow to business owners.