With the number of active online investors in Australia having almost doubled from around 750,000 since the beginning of COVID¹, I thought it’d be useful to provide newer investors an overview on a topic that is getting a bit of airtime recently – recessions. In fact, the US entered a technical recession only last month,

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Have you ever wished you could have invested in the internet when the World Wide Web first took off? While still an early stage technology, the Metaverse has the potential to be one of the biggest secular growth trends of the coming decades.
The BetaShares Metaverse ETF (ASX Code: MTAV) has been designed to provide investors with exposure to some of the world’s leading companies in this emerging sector.

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Throughout 2020 and 2021, the world witnessed numerous lockdowns, business closures, event cancellations and work from home policies, triggering a deep economic downturn. While many were hopeful for 2022, the economic shock has continued as high inflation, rate rises, and growth fears have triggered a market sell-off.
Recession fears
Recently,

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Reading time: 6 minutes
Net-zero has become an unstoppable bandwagon. But in my opinion, net-zero in its current guise is not a credible solution to climate change. The problem is the trade in junk credits on the voluntary carbon market (VCM) has become huge, and no one in that market has an incentive to safeguard its integrity.

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Reading time: 4 minutes
Transforming the global food system is one of the world’s most pressing challenges. From production to consumption and farm to fork, the food system is undergoing massive change driven by global demand to fundamentally re-imagine food and its environmental and social impacts.
From plant based and lab-grown meat,

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The old saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” offers a lesson in life and economics. Even if something appears free, the inescapable realities that goods are scarce, and you must make a choice, mean that there’s always a cost – opportunity cost. This concept was first popularised by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman,

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Gold traditionally has been used as a hedge against inflation. During periods of high inflation, central banks typically increase interest rates. High inflation can make it difficult to value companies as the dollar becomes less valuable, affecting operating costs and profits. This can make markets volatile.
This is where gold and other hedging assets come into play.

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Reading time: 3 minutes
“They think not there how much of blood it costs.” – Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy – Paradiso.
Cobalt is critical to the transition to a zero-emissions economy. With unique properties, cobalt is an essential component of the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and store energy from wind and solar.

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Reading time: 3 minutes
Half Year Review 2022: NET INFLOWS REMAIN POSITIVE BUT MARKET FALLS CAUSE INDUSTRY DECLINE
Given market declines and overall investor caution we saw a far less buoyant Australian ETF industry in the first half of this year compared to the same time last year.

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All too often I see individuals getting caught up in complex investment strategies, most of which require a mathematician to decipher. But in the long run, they generally end up with market-like returns. Like Bruce Lee said “simplicity is the key to brilliance” – and there couldn’t be a truer phrase related to the world of investing.

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