Many Australian investors continue to focus on income-generating investments. However, with ongoing market volatility, it’s worth thinking carefully about how income-generating investments are allocated within a portfolio.
Fixed income is often described as the defensive part of an investment portfolio. For many investors, it is expected to provide regular income, reduce reliance on share market returns and help smooth the overall investment journey. That description is broadly right. But it can also create an unrealistic expectation that fixed income investing is simple, safe and always stable.
Australian households are carrying some of the highest debt loads in the developed world, yet the Reserve Bank is still weighing whether to raise rates again. In the event the inflation print due out on July 29th runs hot, a fourth RBA rate rise may become more likely than not.
The Australian share market has spent much of the past decade lagging global equities, as investors increasingly looked offshore for structural growth opportunities in areas such as artificial intelligence. Yet while broad local market returns have disappointed relative to global shares, income-oriented strategies have quietly emerged as some of the strongest performing domestic equity strategies.
Fixed income is often described as the defensive part of an investment portfolio. For many investors, it is expected to provide regular income, reduce reliance on share market returns and help smooth the overall investment journey. That description is broadly right. But it can also create an unrealistic expectation that fixed income investing is simple, safe and always stable.
Australian households are carrying some of the highest debt loads in the developed world, yet the Reserve Bank is still weighing whether to raise rates again. In the event the inflation print due out on July 29th runs hot, a fourth RBA rate rise may become more likely than not.
The Australian share market has spent much of the past decade lagging global equities, as investors increasingly looked offshore for structural growth opportunities in areas such as artificial intelligence. Yet while broad local market returns have disappointed relative to global shares, income-oriented strategies have quietly emerged as some of the strongest performing domestic equity strategies.
How well is your fixed income investment portfolio expected to perform during an economic shock? Have you considered what could happen to your portfolio if the wrong things happen at the right time? How defensive will your fixed income investments be in the next economic crisis?
Retiring soon and wondering how to structure your investments? There are a range of strategies you can follow, from maintaining your existing approach to shifting into a new strategy. One approach investors use is known as the 3-bucket strategy.
When you are investing for income, you are looking for capital preservation, a level of growth and consistent income. But what if the fund you pick fails to deliver? Worse still, what if your money is lost?
The idea of regular, consistent payments is a critical part of an income-focused portfolio. Ensuring that a portfolio actually looks and works that way across extended periods can take a bit more planning. It’s not as simple as bunging everything into a bond and taking a monthly coupon.
For bond investors, the first few months of 2026 have been chaotic to say the least. It has been a year in which duration, inflation sensitivity, and market structure have mattered again, often brutally.
Once upon a time, income investors might simply have used a select group of dividend-paying equities and bonds to cover their needs. Today’s income portfolio looks vastly different – though equities and bonds still play a role.
Investors learnt the hard way long ago.
Following the exchange rate might be popular for those planning future international travel, but those planning their portfolios should not forget currency either. A shift in the exchange rate can mean an instant shift in the value or performance of your portfolio, depending on whether you have hedged any of your international exposures.
There must be something about the 20s. Just like the 1920s, the 2020s have been turbulent and full of contradictions, though hopefully the 2020s won’t end the same way. As investors watch economic and geopolitical risks increase, alongside an uptick in inflation forcing the hand of the RBA, some may wonder if a slowdown is in the future.
This time of the year is always interesting due to the preponderance of investment outlooks that are penned in early-to-mid December. These publications wax lyrical on a variety of topics du jour but are often most useful in informing investors exactly where consensus expectations and biases lie across various asset classes. These publications are also slowly coming to grips with the new world order in geopolitics and how a seemingly structured 6-month view of the world can get blasted to smithereens in a few hours.
For such a critical and long-dreamed of part of life, investing in retirement was woefully underserviced until recently. Superannuation funds focused heavily on the accumulation stage, relegating pension phase to a side thought. As Australians have come to live longer, and more of the baby boomers have retired – one of the largest generation cohorts, it’s become patently clear that retirement investment strategies need more nuance to manage the unique challenges of retirement.
Analysing inflation-linked ETFs & funds, credit spreads and global income rotations.
Between inflation and market activity, investors in fixed income have had their work cut out for them. Post the GFC, rates remained low and investors in many instances were forced to look towards higher risk assets, like equities or more recently, private markets, for yield.
Savvy investors are always on the lookout for the proverbial canary in the coalmine, particularly when markets keep hitting all-time highs with seemingly unstoppable momentum.