Moving into the 2020s, global equity portfolios should be concentrated and highly selective, positioned to address both fundamental changes in the global backdrop and vulnerabilities in the successful styles of recent years.

Somehow the optimal growth/defensive asset split from the 1980s is still considered "balanced" today - never mind that for the first time since the 1930s, the cost of capital is stubbornly static at a negative real return.

Portfolio managers and investment advisers still too often follow their own values, rather than their clients’, when making investment decisions. In the 2020s, values will move from the periphery to the focal point for successful investments.

Although influenced by logical factors, changes in investment markets are often irrational and illogical. A whole-brain approach to seeking alpha is necessary to win in the investment game.

Prior to the GFC, you could build a retirement portfolio on the back of a 7% yield, virtually risk free. Today, without that free kick, a 7% yield is a much harder job, especially from a risk-budgeting perspective.

Limiting overlapping economic exposures more effectively creates concentrated yet diversified portfolios capable of meeting investors’ long-term objectives into the 2020s, while better managing risk.

Focusing on financially material ESG data and systematically including them into investment analysis facilitates 20/20 vision of a company’s risk-return profile.

Whether they realise it or not, investors use factors every time they make an asset allocation decision. Combining multiple factors can help investors increase the chances for investment success.

If we want a vibrant capitalist future in the 21st century, we need to support ethical legal frameworks for capitalism and practice Conscious Capitalism.

Portfolio managers don't have perfect vision. Better prediction accuracy results in more concentrated portfolios, higher turnover, higher position limits and higher returns and information ratios.

The decade since the GFC has been a challenging period for value style equity investing. Not surprisingly, investors are questioning the value of value investing.

Investors want it all from alternatives - keep up with equities in bull markets, and give insurance when markets fall. But true diversification adds independent sources of return to portfolios.

The 2010s challenged value investors as, paradoxically, cheap stocks became cheaper and expensive stocks grew more expensive. For those holding their nerve, the inconsistency sets up a good 2020s.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning represent an important expansion of the quantitative investors' analytical toolkit, providing substantial new flexibility.

A deliberate blend of emerging market debt and high yield opens up another universe of liquid, high income opportunities which can offer relative stability in returns and deliver the potential of higher income.

Future returns from infrastructure portfolios are less clear due to disruptive forces. Managing these risks requires an unrelenting focus on improving efficiency and customer service.

An antidote for a low-rate environment is investing in companies enjoying the benefits of mega-trends, global shifts that are likely to boost demand for the products of a firm over the long term.

Australia has enjoyed nearly three decades of uninterrupted economic growth, but there are sound reasons to question whether this will continue in the future. Five core shifts – industry, urban, energy, land and culture – are needed for Australia to reach its full potential.

To succeed within the ever-shifting context in which investment decisions are made, investors should adopt a multi-lens approach. Context matters, and siloed thinking can be detrimental.

What strategy should a rational investor, completely free of constraints, take to preserve wealth while making modest long-term gains? To do so will not be easy over the next two decades.