It’s quiet out there. Since the so-called return of volatility at the beginning of the year, financial markets are seemingly benign once again. Perhaps it’s the warm summer in the northern hemisphere, but many investors now feel that investing in equities is less risky than it was just six months... Show More

Facebook’s high-profile woes over its collection, storage and use of personal data are a vivid illustration of the extra risk investors take on with any stock that is ‘priced for perfection’. Show More

A very ‘Xīnnián hǎo’ to you, as this month’s Chinese new year zodiac moves from the Rooster to the Year of the Dog. The 12-year repeating nature of Chinese astrology interests us here on The Value Perspective, as this is just the sort of time horizon that should be in... Show More

It is a continuing curiosity of investing that people can be so obsessed with trying to predict the future yet at the same time find it so difficult to think beyond the present. Show More

For decades, the prevailing view of financial markets was one of rational actors creating efficient prices. In recent years, particularly in the wake of the GFC, investors have increasingly adopted a very different view of how markets operate. Loss aversion bias, anchoring, and herding (among others) have all become popular... Show More

The concept of ‘herding’ is a powerful lesson that investors should not ignore. Herding is the bias that can lead investors to follow the crowd, whether they genuinely agree with what they are doing, or are just scared of being left standing alone. Show More

In honour of the forthcoming Melbourne Cup, let’s start with a quick trivia question: In how many calendar years has the favourite finished first in each leg of Australian racing’s ‘Grand Slam’? For the record, this four-legged achievement (in more ways than one) takes in the Golden Slipper, the Caulfield... Show More