Opinion

The environment we’re heading into is one where economies will have more redundancies built into them so they can withstand exogenous geopolitical shocks, according to Ausbil.

Knowing how much personality to inject into a professional advice veneer is a skill that needs to be learnt by all advisers, but practices also have a role to play in setting up the right systems, processes and cultural settings so that advisers are comfortable being their true self.

For those who have recommended the Royal London’s Core Fund, especially, the incongruous management switch means they have to explain to clients why it will probably take on a completely different investment style.

The benefits of alternative investments are clear, but rapid growth in the product set has made the optimal use of alternatives in portfolios unclear. As markets reach all-time highs, it may be time to re-think how we treat the asset class.

There’s no crisis yet, but private wealth CIOs and asset consultants are keeping a close eye on markets after their sudden August selloff. Their advice: stay nimble, stay unconstrained, and look out for “the unbelievable opportunity to invest in a dislocation”.

A panel of investment managers and advisers from The Inside Network’s Investment Leaders Forum painted a relatively positive macroeconomic picture. While market risks remain, the ‘higher for longer’ rate mantra seems less convincing than it once did.

From gloomy retail clients to fretful global institutional providers, investment experts report a glaring disconnect between the risk appetite of investors and the overall economic outlook.

Despite latent geopolitical threats and a persistently hobbled commercial real estate sector, the market presents a fundamentally strong and stable picture according to the Melbourne-based investment consultants.

“Look at a country, a conflict, a region – whatever,” former US general and CIA director David Petraeus said. “And then ask whether it has anything to do with the global economy.”

The traditional method of protecting client portfolios from drift remains entirely valid. It’s ostensibly cheaper to run portfolios without managed accounts, but it does take more time to do so and probably takes on more risk.

The solutions to practice inefficiency might be completely foreign, but the challenges of service delivery have a habit of changing, so the methods employed to meet those challenges need to evolve in tandem.

Cracks are opening up in global economies around the world, with increasing unemployment a bellwether for softening conditions. A tipping point is on the horizon, but central banks remain wary.