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.
If you're planning to invest $500,000 in Australia in 2026, the timing may be in your favour. With the Reserve Bank holding the cash rate steady at 3.6% and markets entering a phase of cautious recovery, investors are navigating a landscape shaped by stabilising inflation, firmer demand, and new appetite for resilient, income-producing assets.
Most market commentaries explain major price moves after the fact with tidy causes that sound obvious only in hindsight. In my opinion, that’s not an intellectually honest approach in the current environment.
If you're planning to invest $500,000 in Australia in 2026, the timing may be in your favour. With the Reserve Bank holding the cash rate steady at 3.6% and markets entering a phase of cautious recovery, investors are navigating a landscape shaped by stabilising inflation, firmer demand, and new appetite for resilient, income-producing assets.
Most market commentaries explain major price moves after the fact with tidy causes that sound obvious only in hindsight. In my opinion, that’s not an intellectually honest approach in the current environment.
It’s easy to see why private credit has grown exponentially in recent years. Investors have been forced to think differently about their portfolios to generate growth, income and maintain capital protection. The alternatives category as a whole has surged in popularity, with private credit accompanying the rise.
Passive investing has reshaped global equity markets over the past decade. Record inflows into low-cost ETFs have led many investors to question whether active management still has a meaningful role.
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.
Open a financial news app and you’ll be greeted with headlines of quarterly earnings misses, monthly economic data prints, and excitement about a 10-week trading update, with share prices swinging around in response.
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.
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.
we are in the midst of profound disruption. This is likely to be beyond a typical generational disruption that happens every 20-30 years. This technological singularity is expected to cause dramatic and irreversible changes to human civilization, far beyond typical generational disruptions such as electrification, the internet, or even current generative AI.
For a long time, stability was something many people barely thought about.
If you stayed employed, avoided major mistakes and made reasonably sensible decisions, the system tended to reward you. Careers progressed in a fairly linear way. Property values rose over time. Superannuation ticked along quietly in the background. There were cycles, of course, but they felt familiar and manageable.
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.