Reading time: 3 minutes
With interest rates around the globe in low single digits, yield-hungry investors face the challenge of finding investment strategies that offer a satisfactory level of income. According to Trading Economics, there are currently around 50 countries that have an interest rate of 1% or below¹.

Read more

Reading time: 4 minutes
With interest rates expected to stay low over the next few years and bonds delivering negative returns after inflation, traditional asset allocation for retirees may no longer work as well as it has in the past.
While the traditional 70/30 asset allocation split has served retirees,

Read more

Reading time: 3 minutes
With the RBA cutting the official cash rate and announcing further quantitative easing (QE) measures, as well as the dwindling dividend yields on the Australian and global sharemarkets, the hunt for yield has never been so intense. Despite this, there is one source of return that is largely overlooked,

Read more

Reading time: 3 minutes
A large audience dialled into the latest of our fortnightly ‘Virus Crisis’ webinars last week. We received many questions from those who attended. David Bassanese, BetaShares Chief Economist, has provided responses to some of the most-asked questions by attendees.
1. You mentioned V,

Read more

Reading time: 5 minutes
I previously wrote about gold around six months ago in August 2019 – however, given the speed at which things are moving in the markets, and the demand we are seeing in our Gold ETF, QAU, I thought it would be useful to provide some updated commentary.

Read more

Reading time: 4 minutes
The S&P/ASX 200 Index hit an all-time high in late July, finally breaching the previous record set before the global financial crisis. The following two months were mixed, with a weak August followed by a strong September. With the outlook uncertain, many investors are of the view that further gains are likely to be limited,

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: 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: 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.

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