PIMCO founder and co-CIO, Bill Gross, has recently appending the even drearier modifier "minus" to his "new normal" moniker. He explains why, and the implications for those building portfolios...

Most emerging countries were able to counter an economic slowdown in developed countries in 2008-09. Can this scenario be repeated?

We asked the fund research houses - how much (if any) of an international equities allocation should be hedged, assuming a 10-year investment timeframe?

This Academy Seminar debates the following three topics in a Socratic learning environment: Investment fables - part 1; Scenarios and their investment implications - part 2; and, Hot topic: Greece is the word - but what are the investment implications?

Conference 2011 helped delegates better understand the key macro AND micro issues and what they mean for investor portfolios. This Resources Kit features videos, presentations, papers and podcasts for the 36 sessions featuring more than 40 investment experts...

The Conference Masterclass is an optional one-day, classroom/workshop-style program presented by selected subject matter experts. The emphasis is on an active-learning environment featuring small, high-quality peer group interaction where in-depth Socratic debate and active discussion is encouraged (indeed, expected!).

We asked the fund research houses - should all portfolios be ‘overweight’ to emerging market equities? If so, overweight to what?

This white paper contends that investment in emerging market sovereign debt continues to look attractive and investors should carefully consider adding emerging market sovereign bonds to their asset allocations and revisit the proportional weighting of the asset class as it continues to mature...

In this closing keynote Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Jonathan Pain looks at the where the Middle East is heading in the years to come, and the investment implications...

The 2011 Portfolio Construction Forum Conference helped delegates better understand the key macro AND micro issues and what they mean for investor portfolios, to help them successfully navigate through the woods AND the trees. In this final Critical Issues Forum session, selected PortfolioConstruction Forum Academy members, Longview's Chris Watling and Tim Farrelly, principal of farrelly's Investment Strategy, give their key takeouts from the two-day program...

In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Amanda Gillespie, of fund research house Lonsec, provides a practical guide to integrating EM exposures in portfolios, including whether an active or passive approach is best, and what type of exposure is appropriate for different investors...

The debt side of portfolios used to be the easy part of portfolio construction, but not these days. In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Tim Farrelly outlines a systematic and practical process for constructing the debt side of portfolios and shows how considerable value can be added and demonstrated clearly to investors...

In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Dr Michael Hasenstab looks at how monetary policy and geopolitical events are impacting the challenges and opportunities facing global bond investors. Chris Watling then argues we're in a long-term, secular equities bear cycle, and what that means for equities investing...

Harvard Business School's Dr Niall Ferguson of "The Ascent of Money" fame, discusses what he believes lies ahead - the key macro AND micro issues and what they mean for investor portfolios - to successfully navigate through the woods AND the trees...

In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Peter Elston looks at to the appropriate use of active share to measure how active an active fund manager REALLY is, before Scott Bennett re-visits the case for active management and the characteristics that can help discern skill from luck...

In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Del Stafford highlights highlights the current and emerging applications of ETFs in portfolios. Scott Burns discusses the intricacies of ETFs as they move farther away from the ETFs that typify the Australian ETF landscape...

Dr Woody Brock, Alan Brown (Schroders), Gregor Andrade (AQR Capital), Hamish Douglass (Magellan), Chris Selth (Five Oceans) and Chris Watling (Longview), discuss the key macro and micro issues we cannot of afford to lose sight of when constructing portfolios...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, provides a definition of the alternatives category and a logical framework to appreciate the characteristics of these investments, and guidance as to appropriate weightings in a diversified portfolio...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, argues that consideration should be given to adding downside protection qualities to a portfolio via an investment in a hybrid of listed and unlisted infrastructure...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, explores the three most common post-retirement issues and argues that an equities allocation can be modified to provide a better balance than alternative strategies that just focus on high yielding stocks to arrive at a strategy better-suited to today’s retirees...

The allure of high cash deposit rates against current low inflation is strong - however, on a longer-term view, cash is unlikely to meet client requirements. This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, discusses how to actively manage the trade-off between the risk and return of different asset classes in an uncertain economic environment...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, examines how to boost returns on portfolios using liquid strategies available to Australian investors, and concludes with a take on asset allocation that is radically different from that practiced currently...

This month has brought some of the most turbulent times in the history of investment markets. What does it mean for those managing investor portfolios?

We're facing a very complicated, rich and interesting landscape. For investors, distinguishing the woods from the trees is going to be very difficult - but will pay well because of that difficulty...

There are three key reasons why it is prudent to reduce commodities allocations and redistribute some of that allocation into equities - and in particular, western equities...

In the past few weeks, it's become clear that Italy must now be included in the group of submerging economies - and that portfolios should become more cautious and defensive...

Is there any evidence to support the use of active international equities funds in portfolios? Plus, the growth of emerging markets allocations, and the rise of fundamental risk management...

Australian residential property does not behave like other investment classes. Why? And what does that mean for forecasting returns?

The Academy Winter Seminar 2011 debates the following three topics in a Socratic learning environment: How to build a framework for assessment of niche exposures in a portfolio; How to incorporate value strategies in equity portfolios; and, How to analyse investment scenarios and their implications for portfolios...

Post 1 July, New Zealand's financial advisers will be held to far greater account for the portfolios they build for clients - and this comes at a time when global investment markets are more volatile than at any other time in the past 20 years, and likely to remain so for years. Investment Symposium 2011 will help you better understand the pillars for building better quality investor portfolios...

How should we think about risk in portfolios? I put that question to a cross-section of prominent advisers, authors and academics. Their answers encompassed diverse opinions and underscored how crucial that question is to the investment process...

Is this the time to be buying or selling international equities?

The Academy Autumn Seminar 2011 will debate the following three topics in a Socratic learning environment: How to judge whether a manager will or has added value; Is investing post-retirement different?; and, How to spot global trends and draw investment inferences from them...

The question of whether China is a bubble is critical for strategic asset allocation, for the outlook for emerging markets, for the future strength of global economic growth, and in determining how much longer the commodity super cycle is likely to continue...

The final session of the Markets Summit 2011 saw our specialists return to stage for a vigorous debate about the prospects for their competing asset classes, and the implications for constructing portfolios, before Inquisitor Tim Farrelly summed up the day's key takeouts...

Concern about investment bubbles is at unprecedented levels. Markets Summit 2011 helped delegates decide what is and what is not, a bubble - and what that means for constructing investor portfolios...

The question every investor has right now is 'are we in a bubble'? There's no doubt that the huge infusion of free money into the world economy by every government from the US to China has created enormous price movements. But the single most important risk to be thinking about now is inflation risk...

As suggested in the last Pain Report, it looks like The House of Saud is prepared to stand and fight with Bahrain's House of Al-Khalifa. We are rapidly approaching a critical decision point - will they or won't they? My view, very regrettably, is that the Saudis will intervene in Bahrain...

The tectonic plates of the Arab world have ruptured and the geopolitical fault lines that have shaped and defined the region for sixty years have shifted inexorably. What does that mean for investing?

The Summer Seminar 2011 debated the following three carefully selected topics, in a Socratic learning environment: Forever blowing bubbles; Avoiding avoidable mistakes; and, Agency risk and portfolio construction...

What are the broader perspectives on the implications of the Egyptian crisis for markets and investors?

Inspired by the overthrow of the Tunisian president, demonstrations began in Egypt on 25 January and the rest, as they say, is history. Before we attempt to predict what the consequences will indeed be, let us first understand what we are actually seeing and why...

It's with considerable trepidation that I take on the world's central bankers who are protecting the world against the evils of deflation...