ETF Articles

Most investors’ picture of financial independence involves streams of money flowing their way without any effort on their parts. It’s this lack of effort, this ability to make money while we sleep, that allows us to do all the things we’ve always dreamt of—like travelling or sipping cocktails at the beach.

Here’s a shocking stat for energy investors: the energy sector comprises only 3% of the S&P 500’s value, down from 30% in 1980. That’s serious underperformance. It’s understandable why only the most ardent of energy bulls currently own what remains of the energy sector’s once great market cap. But we all know Warren Buffet’s famous quote about buying when others are fearful. Could it be that this is one of those moments for the energy sector? Will it rise like a phoenix from the ashes at the very moment it’s been written off and ignored by most investors?

Most investors dream of achieving financial independence. The prospect of controlling your own time, being free to live life on your terms, and reclaiming money’s control over your life are powerful incentives.

Welcome to 2025’s investment style match: between growth versus value stocks. The audience are fired up and ready for an exciting competition. Some of you may remember that last year’s winner, value stocks, ended up underperforming in 2024. You may feel tempted to blame the referee. Fair dues. But that’s the nature of the investing game. You can make the right call based on the data, and still be wrong. Short term market sentiment is often the over-riding swing factor and is hard to predict. So this year’s match will once again be based on the best available data — with all the usual caveats. The two teams will be tested against one another on four key factors for a steer as to which investment style is best positioned to outperform during 2025…

If you’ve read many classic investment books, you’ve probably come across Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, which brings to life Jesse Livermore’s fascinating journey as a stock investor and trader. Whilst Jesse Livermore is famous for losing his money just as fast as he made it, many people regard him as one of the greatest traders and investors ever to have lived.

Are you a lazy investor? Or do you watch your portfolio each day like a hawk with a view to trading whenever necessary?

Does the acronym AGI inspire the same mix of excitement and terror in you as AI does? Probably not, but that may change soon. AGI stands for Artificial General Intelligence. The difference between AI and AGI is that Artificial General Intelligence is at least as good as human intelligence for a wide range of tasks that require intelligence. According Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, AGI is coming this year which means that, for the first time in history, ‘computers will be able to automate the great majority of intellectual labour’. In other words, many of us were right to worry that artificial intelligence is indeed coming for our jobs. The ramifications are also significant for investors…

It’s a popular pastime for professional and individual investors to bemoan the impacts the rise of passive funds is having on markets. However, recent Goldman Sachs research questions the validity of this argument. We use that research as we embark on a myth-debunking journey.

More than a few fund managers have highlighted that fixed income investing these days is a world away from what it used to be. They’d be right. The very structure of global fixed income markets has changed since the Global Financial Crisis. As with all structural shifts, it pays to revisit the here and now on occasion to ensure your current strategy is fit for purpose. The reality is the strategies necessary to generate alpha in fixed income markets are different from the past.

Innovation has moved beyond being just a nice-to-have at the periphery of most portfolios—it’s now a key focus in investment strategies. With sectors like AI, renewable energy, and biotech leading the way, more investors are adjusting their portfolios to capture the growth potential of these cutting-edge technologies.

Cash and term deposits (TDs) have been popular with investors over the past couple of years, thanks to the RBA’s aggressive rate hikes. With cash rates peaking at 4.35%, investors enjoyed returns as high as 5% through TDs and high-interest savings accounts.

In recent years, emerging markets haven’t exactly been a sure-fire opportunity for investors. Many have retreated after a decade of flat earnings, turbulence in China, and more attractive returns from the US exposure, resulting in emerging markets trading at lower valuations than their developed market counterparts.