Asset Allocation

Over the past 30 years, traditional fixed income investors have benefited from the tail wind of falling rates and a long-term bull market for bonds. However, with interest rates at historically low levels, investors are quite rightfully questioning the future role of traditional fixed income in a balanced portfolio. With... Show More

Fund managers all have their own individual processes when it comes to selecting investments. Some will be bottom up, others top down. Jordan Cvetanovski, Portfolio Manager, Pengana International Equities, walks investors through his process for portfolio construction, and explains how it enables consistent and stable returns to be achieved over... Show More

I recently checked the quality of my cars’ airbags. The exercise was simple, fast and provided immediate comfort that my car would be safe when faced with treacherous conditions. Such conditions are possibly being faced by investors currently. Its timely, therefore, to check the airbags in your portfolio.Airbags for your... Show More

On a recent visit to one of the external managers of our 5 Oceans Fund we asked them for their biggest market worry. The rise of risk parity strategies was the answer.Risk parity strategies are an alternative to the traditional balanced portfolio. The strategy came into being in the 1990s... Show More

One of the questions I’m often asked is why should I invest in a corporate bond fund when I can buy individual bonds directly? We do it with shares all the time, why not with bonds? The simple answer is because there is no prize for getting your bond pick... Show More

This month we provide an update on how our high and ultra-high-net-worth, family office and not-for-profit clients are invested. Importantly, we also take a look at how they have managed their portfolios through recent volatility—in particular, through the sharp correction in risk at the end of 2018 and the subsequent... Show More

The US equity bull market has just turned the ripe old age of ten. In market years, this is considered old-age. In fact, this bull market is the oldest on record using data going all the way back to 1947. The economic cycle is similarly old. Such stamina is good... Show More

In the last edition of our Hype Cycle publication on 9 January 2019 we had to put ashes on our head for not having warned of the correction in the fourth quarter 2018. However, we redeemed ourselves somewhat in the last report because there we analysed the sentiment of retail... Show More

There have been a number of commentators who have made the point that we have inflation in things we need (housing, utilities, fruit&veg, hospital services) and disinflation in things that we want (ice cream, TVs, cars, washing machines etc): But this isn't the full story. Of the eleven main... Show More

Buffett’s famous “Rule 1” of investing is straightforward; don’t lose money. But 10 years into the current business cycle, with unemployment and interest rates at record lows, the window of opportunity for easy returns is closing. Amit Lodha, Portfolio Manager of the Fidelity Global Equities Fund, says that a focus... Show More