May 31
Over the years having worked in consulting and research I have been sent countless portfolios for opinion. Virtually all portfolios have followed a pre-defined asset allocation aligned to a specific risk profile but occasionally that is where the alignment ends. This is because the investments selected bear little to no relationship with their desired characteristics …
Aug 01
I’ve just returned from a manager research trip in the UK where we visited a variety of strategies from a variety of managers and fortunately for me, with some of the leading thinkers and researchers in the advice industry (hat tip D&G … and I don’t mean Dolce and Gabbana). Several of the managers we …
Apr 24
Absolute return investing, according to many definitions, is about getting positive returns irrespective of the overlying “market” return of whatever asset class the investor is being exposed to. This essentially means that any “absolute” returning investment needs to employ strategies that are independent of market direction. For example, if the market (and it can be …
Jul 12
Source: Businessweek Plus their fees just make it hurt just that much more. Send article as PDF
Aug 11
Its been a while since I put some of my broader investment thoughts in writing and I’ve just written almost 4000 words to satisfy that…so it also sort of makes up for my lack of posting. So below is a lot of what I have written and hopefully its readable for anyone interested…I actually haven’t …
Jul 19
Oh dear. I just read the above headline in the Money Management daily…click here…and the stated reason is… they deliver reliable income streams and protect capital in volatile markets …I don’t think so or more to the point, with no where near the ability of cash. It looks like the S&P analyst is referring to …
Mar 01
This link from The Economist was passed onto me today and is a hilariously written letter from a fictitional hedge fund manager to its investors. I have reproduced the full letter below (I hope The Economist doesn’t mind) … Dear investor, In line with the rest of our industry we are making some changes to …
Jan 19
I read the following comment this morning in the Money Management daily enews…Market Neutral Funds Underrated: Zenith… There is demonstrable portfolio improvement to be had from allocating to market neutral strategies as part of the equity allocation… That says to me that if you want to improve your equities part of the portfolio then replace …
Sep 15
Last night UBS lost $2billion due to another “rogue” doing unauthorised trades and as reported last night by Zero Hedge, Goldman Sachs are shutting down their famed (or perhaps infamous), Global Alpha hedge fund. The obvious question posed by Zero Hedge is whose next? and I wonder which Australian fund(s), if any, will be hit. …
Mar 03
I haven’t posted too often this year and the above chart pretty much shows why. This year, there hasn’t been too much change a not a great deal of interesting things to write about. Despite natural disasters, minority government, middle east issues, record food prices and climbing oil prices, our bond yields have been relatively …