Reading time: 4 minutes Commodities are seen by many as one of the building blocks of a balanced portfolio. In basic terms, commodities are goods that are either grown, or dug out of the ground. They are often used as inputs in the production of other goods. Hard commodities are natural resources that are mined

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Reading time: 3 minutes INDUSTRY CONTINUES GROWTH TRAJECTORY IN A TOUGH MONTH FOR SHARES In what was a tough month for equities, the Australian ETF industry continued to grow, and ended the month at an all-time high of $54.1B in funds under management (FuM), with a monthly market cap increase of 1.5% (+$784m). Read on

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Reading time: 4 minutes Despite a strong long-term economic growth outlook, the Indian economy has slowed over recent quarters and its sharemarket has under-performed global peers so far this year.  With policy stimulus on the way, this could offer a buying opportunity, assuming the Indian economy manages to rebound over the second half of this

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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

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Reading time: 5 minutes Earlier this month, in Investing for income (Part 1), we looked at the challenges facing investors seeking income in a low interest rate world, and presented several opportunities in the cash and fixed income asset class. In Part 2, we explore the opportunities to earn income from equities. Australian investors are

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Reading time: 4 minutes Lower rates and more cuts on the cards With the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cutting the official cash rate to just 1.00% on 3 July 2019, savers and investors face increased challenges in deriving enough income from their investments to meet their needs. This is an ongoing issue as interest

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Reading time: 4 minutes Every year in June, a report is published that is essential reading for anyone interested in investing in the tech sector. Written by the woman dubbed the ‘Queen of the Internet’, Bond Capital founder Mary Meeker, the Internet Trends Report has become the most highly anticipated slide deck in Silicon Valley

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Reading time: 5 minutes Given the ongoing trade war and slowing global growth, many investors are understandably concerned about the market outlook.  While I feel a ‘doomsday’ scenario is unlikely anytime soon, this note nonetheless considers what investment options might be of interest to those investors who hold grave concerns – and are seeking portfolio

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Reading time: 4 minutes Gold has woken from its slumber to be up more than 18% since the start of the year (see chart below). Whilst this has been driven by growth concerns and falling real rates, we believe there is still a strong case for including it as part of a broader asset allocation.

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Reading time: 4 minutes “What are other advisers doing with client portfolios?” This is one of the questions I get asked the most by financial advisers. I appreciate that many advisers are so busy with the day-to-day running of their practices, they may not get as much time to speak to their peers and share

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