Having experienced some of the most difficult market conditions in 50 years over the past 12 months, it was an ideal time to review our asset allocation strategies and how we go about investing for clients. This Masterclass focused on the latest ideas from academia and leading edge practitioners, the lessons we should take away from the GFC experience, and how we should go about formulating our investment strategy going forward? Delegates left this Masterclass with a thorough understanding of some new approaches to asset allocation, how markets should perform in this new environment, and the key things to monitor along the way...

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 Hong-Kong-based Dr Marc Faber - argued that post Global Financial Crisis recession-busting policy measures may aggravate and prolong the problem, and that the recession will deepen...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper and Presentation from PortfolioConstruction Conference 2009 argue that investors should not let the level of portfolio risk automatically determine portfolio allocations, as is the case with Strategic Asset Allocation, but rather that portfolio allocations should have regard for the risk and liquidity requirements of the investor...

Despite an appalling 2008, the hedge fund industry spin continues, with managers comparing hedge fund returns to equity market performance. But what if we make a sensible comparison – against diversified funds? With the tide now out, the myths are laid bare...

The PortfolioConstruction Investment Markets Summit 2009 brought together over 300 industry professionals, for a a pan-industry high quality, high value, intelligent discussion by a faculty of international and local investment experts about key investment markets and their risks and opportunities in 2009/2010...

The following is an introductory review and synopsis of recent commentary on the Global Financial Crisis. What are the possible "road(s) to recovery"? And, what are the sign posts? What are the implications for portfolios, and how do we communicate them to investors?

The 7th annual Portfolio Construction Forum took place in what for many professionals would be considered the eye of a financial hurricane. The news over the prior 12 months had been awful in virtually every domestic financial sector, and the world was fighting through a global credit crisis that had replaced the days of easy money and leverage with a liquidity crisis and flight to quality that threatened international returns for the next half-decade. Delegates arrived with a single mission: to deconstruct the root causes of the domestic and global meltdown, and figure out how to help their clients ride out the storm...

This presentation and underlying research paper explore relative price strength screens that can be used to identify trends and determine the right time to invest, and demonstrate the significant value that has been added over time by "listening to the market" in this way...

This presentation and underlying research paper presents analysis suggesting we have entered a fourth wave of inflation and strong commodity price growth that may continue for the next 10 to 12 years and therefore investments in agriculture are becoming increasingly attractive...

This presentation and underlying research paper address which real estate asset classes will perform best over the next five to seven years and why...

This presentation and underlying research examine an alternative approach using a combination of fundamental stock level research and quantitative methods to estimate ex-ante portfolio risk based on exposure to three primary characteristics...

Risk profiling is generally agreed to be an important part of the financial planning process – and, yet, it is something that generates large measures of skepticism, controversy and, from time to time, attention from the regulators. Ensuring a portfolio is within the bounds of both a client's risk tolerance and risk capacity is critical - just getting one right is not good enough...

The 2007 PortfolioConstruction Conference program again challenged delegates' thinking about how they design and build investor portfolios - and it would have been hard to pick a better time to bring together 500 of Australia's leading portfolio construction professionals...

It would have been hard to pick a better time to bring together 500 of Australia's leading portfolio construction professionals. Conference came hard on the heels of the 30 June deadline for post-tax super contributions of up to $1 million and then, during conference week, the US subprime meltdown shaved 6% off global equities...

David discusses his ground-breaking research into Australian's mortality, and the common misconceptions that are undermining the integrity of their portfolios...

Many planners still use long term historical returns to estimate future market returns on the basis that, if the historical period is long enough, everything smoothes out. This is pure bunk. In order to demonstrate this as conclusively as possible, we illustrate the impact of using 20 year historical returns as forecasts for the subsequent decade across six major equity markets over the past 107 years...

You learn a vast amount in a week. Here are my key takeouts from Day 1...

Near the end of each decade, a bubble seems to emerge in financial markets...

This paper examines traditional approaches to buying international equities, highlighting some of the problems with capitalisation-weighted benchmarks, and suggesting that replicating a global index may no longer be the optimal solution for those investors with longer-term investment horizons. It looks at some of the new strategies available to capture beta and illustrates how diversification can be used to manage risk for investors in a less constrained portfolio.