The Conexus Fiduciary Investors Symposium 2019 (20-22 May 2019) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Continuing Education (CE/CPD) hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE accreditation.

More than one third of Australians think there is widespread corruption in the banking and finance sector.

Few clients have the 20-year horizon required for today’s strategically-oriented models to become consistent with suggested outcomes, such as CPI+4%. This builds in a structural mismatch.

Banks are a defensive fixed income investment. This may sound counterintuitive only a decade removed from the most prolific financial crisis of our lifetime.

Finology Summit is THE behavioural finance ("fin") and investment psychology ("ology") program of the year. The blended live and online learning program features an exceptional Faculty of experts from around the world. Each offers his/her best high conviction ideas - on the relationships between people and money, behavioural economics and behaviour change - and how people's different beliefs, biases and behaviours about investing, impact investment markets and influence portfolio construction philosophy and practices.

Australian investors have a different perspective on foreign currency to investors elsewhere in the world, and this should be reflected in how local portfolios are built.

Investors are entitled to believe that the industry has standards so that they can compare like with like - but obviously that's not the case.

An inflation target of a few percentage points may seem to promote stability - but we need to consider that it may have the opposite effect on the stability of our judgments.

This week in Forum Fodder: Prof J Bradford DeLong - Self-fulfilling financial crises; Brett Gillespie - In this tug-of-war market, you need a bet each way; Annika Bradley - 5 essentials: managed account vs managed fund; Prof Ron Bird - Asset management, overconfidence and market discipline; Nikki Thomas - Capturing future earnings upgrades leads to outperformance.

Potential returns on traditional assets are falling and the search is on for different sources of attractive returns. The Australian Asset Backed Loans asset class deserves a place in many portfolios.

Strategies Conference 2018 (22/23 August 2018) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Forum CE hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE acceditation.

The Australian (and global economy) is facing decades of significant technological change that will reshape how we work, where we work, and how we relate to each other economically and politically.

Harry Markowitz called diversification "the only free lunch in finance". But it can’t be taken for granted as not all diversification is good. The answer will often lie with good rules of thumb.

Investors should treat foreign currency as an asset class in its own right, considering both short- and long-term currency risks, as well as where the best return opportunities lie.

Unconstrained strategies can be supportive in both maximising portfolio returns and reducing risk but a clear philosophy and framework for apportioning risk in unconstrained portfolios is key.

Investors need to entirely rethink their processes, assumptions and research approach, to focus on the cultures of consumers in different markets. Only by thinking like new brands themselves, can investors identify and invest in the next powerful emerging trend.

The familiar phrase “Past performance is not indicative of future performance” is so common we almost ignore it, but it goes to the heart of how to view and manage risk and return to future-proof portfolios.

Future proofing portfolios is difficult, due to today’s demanding valuations and because the future is intrinsically unknowable. There are no set-and-forget strategies in a world of ever-changing prices.

Investment portfolio construction is, by definition, an exercise in long-term thinking. Given the uncertainties and competing priorities, are future-proof portfolios achievable? Practitioners share their views.

There will always be movements in markets that we need to be attentive to, and you should construct a portfolio that takes advantage of fear. But don't let that fear drive the dominating principles in your portfolio construction.