Central banks can’t buy gold fast enough, while gold miners are recovering after a dramatic selloff and Bitcoin, the asset previously regarded as digital gold, is having a miserable year.
Ask most investors what determines their long-term returns and they’ll most likely talk about their asset allocation, the way they select their fund managers or their track records at getting macro calls right.
Central banks can’t buy gold fast enough, while gold miners are recovering after a dramatic selloff and Bitcoin, the asset previously regarded as digital gold, is having a miserable year.
Ask most investors what determines their long-term returns and they’ll most likely talk about their asset allocation, the way they select their fund managers or their track records at getting macro calls right.
Many investors think selling is an easy part of investing that doesn’t require a lot of thought. In contrast, buying is exciting. It requires an understanding of valuation numbers, corporate fundamentals, and the macro environment. For many investors, these are interesting challenges that are an enjoyable part of investing. Yet, selling feels to many like an administrative process that’s executed more out of necessity. It’s the dotting of the investment i’s and the crossing of the t’s that concludes the process.
There’s a crossroads in the financial lives of most households when wealth growth is either ignited or postponed. It’s a single habit shift that’s simple, and far from glamorous.
Cryptocurrencies must surely be the most polarising asset class in the modern financial era. On the one hand, they promise decentralised finance, immutable digital money, and permissionless innovation.
If you’re a news reader, you’re probably feeling like the world is engulfed in a crisis with no end date in sight. It sure feels like that as bad story after bad story is channelled toward news consumers around the world. Take your pick of which one that matters most. Trump’s latest offensive tweet, the housing shortage, the cost of living, the system, the list goes on.
For most of financial history, oil has been the beating heart of the global economy as it has fuelled transport, industry, and economic growth. But in early 2026, oil may well hold a less impressive title: the cheapest major commodity in the world. It’s currently trading at a price that defies historical patterns and conventional market wisdom.
The most expensive investment mistakes rarely stem from ignorance. They tend to arise from behavioural biases, poorly governed decision-making, and incentives that distort investors’ judgement over time. History shows that even professional investors, armed with the best data, experience, and market access, repeatedly make the same predictable errors.
Are you tired of hearing about the Magnificent Seven being the only investment game in town? That would be understandable since it’s the narrative that’s dominated global equity markets for many years now. It’s been the same outside of the U.S., including here in Australia. The Magnificent Seven have been driving the global equity markets to new highs, and international participation has been rising accordingly.
Most of the world’s great investors are masters at identifying structural investment trends they can rely to drive their portfolio performance for decades rather than weeks. Whilst predicting the long term future is anything but easy, successfully identifying megatrends is likely to make your life as an investor a lot easier.
Whether you’re starting up your portfolio fresh, or looking to add new tilts to your existing investments, there are plenty of options in the ETF world today and more to come in 2026. There are more than 400 ETFs listed on Australian exchanges, and plenty to come in the pipeline, so how do you navigate your choices?
As the new year begins, the global economy is on a surprisingly resilient track, although the margin for policy error by governments and central bankers is narrow. With global inflation sticky but moderating and high developed-market government debt, central banks face an ever-finer line in their efforts to cut rates without reigniting inflation or destabilising bond markets.
2025 has been a year when it has paid to learn from the markets. And there have been plenty of lessons flying at investors open to learning. For example, structural dynamics often override thematic hopes, macro-regime shifts matter, diversification remains the only free lunch in finance, and cost-control plus discipline still beats speculative glamour.