Reading time: 6 minutes
Records smashed!
Records were broken all over the ETF industry globally in 2019, and Australia was no different. The Australian ETF industry surged past the $60B milestone and ended the year at $61.8B, an all-time high, and a full 52% higher than its level as at the end of 2018 ($41B). 

Read more

Reading time: 3 minutes
Thanks to their ability to provide exposure to a range of asset classes, it has long been possible to build a low-cost diversified portfolio using only a handful of exchange traded funds (ETFs).  But the innovation does not end there: it’s now possible to get a diversified portfolio –

Read more

Reading time: 4 minutes
When it comes to thinking about returns from your Aussie shares, for many people, dividends are a big part of the story, and historically dividends have made up a significant proportion of the total returns of Australian sharemarket.
Australian companies on average have among the highest dividend yields¹ and payout ratios² in the developed world.

Read more

Reading time: 3 min
Earlier this month Symantec Corp., possibly the best-known name in cybersecurity, completed the sale of its Enterprise cybersecurity business, and the rights to the Symantec name, to Broadcom Inc. Symantec Corp., which makes Norton Antivirus, kept its consumer business but has rebranded as part of the deal,

Read more

Reading time: 3 minutes
Key Global Trends – bond yields snap back

Trend signals for major markets remained unchanged last month.  Though they remain in a sharp downtrend, global bonds yields rebounded strongly in September as the US and China agreed to resume trade talks and the US Federal Reserve indicated it might not need to cut interest rates as aggressively as the markets had thought.

Read more

Reading time: 10 minutes
With interest rates at historic lows, investors who rely on cash or government bonds for income returns are having a harder time making ends meet.
For risk-conscious investors, the good news is that there is a range of innovative cash and fixed income investment exposures on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that offer attractive income returns,

Read more

Reading time: 3 minutes
Statistically speaking, most active managers of broad-based Australian equity funds have failed to beat their benchmark. The table below, taken from the SPIVA report from S&P Dow Jones, illustrates that just under 80% of actively-managed Australian equity funds underperformed their benchmark over the last five years to end December 2018.

Read more

Reading time: 5 minutes
Key Market Trends – trade tensions return
August saw a return to ‘risk-off’ sentiment in global markets, reflecting a resumption in US-China trade tensions, growing signs that these tensions are impacting on global growth (especially in Asia and Europe) and related fears associated with the renewed inversion of the US yield curve.

Read more

Reading time: 5 minutes
Key Market Trends – bonds still driving equities
There were more modest moves in global financial markets over July, with earlier aggressive expectations of US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts tempered somewhat by signalling from the Fed. US-China trade tensions also continued to linger while markets braced for the Q2 US earnings reporting season.

Read more

Reading time: 3 minutes
Determining how to spread your funds across investment asset classes of varying risk and potential return is one of your most important investment decisions.
Having a lot invested in equities will likely mean your long-run returns will be higher, but also that you will have to endure more volatility along the way.

Read more