Reading time: 3 minutes
Many investors go to a lot of effort trying to pick market (or individual share price) lows and highs, in an attempt to time their entries and exits. It’s a strategy that often goes hand-in-hand with a willingness to take investment decisions based on relatively short-term market movements.

Read more

Reading time: 5 mins
Late last week, German payments giant Wirecard filed for insolvency, owing creditors almost $5.8 billion. The company’s collapse came a week after its auditor, Ernst and Young (EY), found a massive $3.1 billion hole in its books. EY refused to sign off on the company’s 2019 accounts,

Read more

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.

Read more

Reading time: 5 minutes
According to a Bloomberg report from June 2019, more than 20% (or US$11 trillion worth) of the investment-grade bonds on issue worldwide were trading at negative yields. In other words, investors buying these bonds know that if they hold them to maturity, they will receive cashflows over the life of the bond that are less than what they are paying for the bond today!

Read more

Reading time: 5 minutes
Diversification may well be a primary reason for including fixed income in your portfolio. The idea is that your fixed income allocation acts as a defence when equities are not performing well. As a result, the overall volatility (risk) of your portfolio should be lower than if you were 100% invested in equities.

Read more

Reading time: 5 minutes
Responsible investing is on the rise. According to the Responsible Investment Benchmark Report 2018 Australia, more than half of all professionally managed assets in Australia fall under a responsible investment umbrella.
In years gone by, conventional wisdom was that acting in accordance with ethical principles involved a trade-off against portfolio returns.

Read more