Dushko Bajic, portfolio manager with Australian equities manager, Orion Asset Management, discusses the risk-on, risk-off trades that are rolling through the market, which stocks offer the best prospects, and the "expensive defensives" best avoided...

This Academy Seminar debates the following three topics in a Socratic learning environment: Investment fables - part 1; Scenarios and their investment implications - part 2; and, Hot topic: Greece is the word - but what are the investment implications?

Conference 2011 helped delegates better understand the key macro AND micro issues and what they mean for investor portfolios. This Resources Kit features videos, presentations, papers and podcasts for the 36 sessions featuring more than 40 investment experts...

The Conference Masterclass is an optional one-day, classroom/workshop-style program presented by selected subject matter experts. The emphasis is on an active-learning environment featuring small, high-quality peer group interaction where in-depth Socratic debate and active discussion is encouraged (indeed, expected!).

The 2011 Portfolio Construction Forum Conference helped delegates better understand the key macro AND micro issues and what they mean for investor portfolios, to help them successfully navigate through the woods AND the trees. In this final Critical Issues Forum session, selected PortfolioConstruction Forum Academy members, Longview's Chris Watling and Tim Farrelly, principal of farrelly's Investment Strategy, give their key takeouts from the two-day program...

In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Amanda Gillespie, of fund research house Lonsec, provides a practical guide to integrating EM exposures in portfolios, including whether an active or passive approach is best, and what type of exposure is appropriate for different investors...

The debt side of portfolios used to be the easy part of portfolio construction, but not these days. In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Tim Farrelly outlines a systematic and practical process for constructing the debt side of portfolios and shows how considerable value can be added and demonstrated clearly to investors...

In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Peter Elston looks at to the appropriate use of active share to measure how active an active fund manager REALLY is, before Scott Bennett re-visits the case for active management and the characteristics that can help discern skill from luck...

In this Critical Issues Forum session at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, Del Stafford highlights highlights the current and emerging applications of ETFs in portfolios. Scott Burns discusses the intricacies of ETFs as they move farther away from the ETFs that typify the Australian ETF landscape...

How to define a concentrated fund and identify whether or not it is really active, whether volatility is bad - and why the focus of risk should be heavily weighted to idiosyncratic risk...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, analyses the various methods and strategies which can be used to deliver outperformance in any commercial property...

The world has changed – no longer can you generate big returns in small caps from simple bottom up stock picking. This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, argues that small cap managers must address today’s macro issues to generate tomorrow’s growth...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, argues that risk factors underpinning classic hedge fund trading strategies - hedge fund risk premia - are investable and can enhance portfolio construction and risk management...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, argues that investors must consider the merits of a “pure” direct exposure to emerging markets in their global opportunity set...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, examines various equity portfolio risk strategies, such as stock-specific risk management and hedging techniques, and whether diversification is still an effective risk management tool...

This Due Diligence Forum Research Paper, presented at the 2011 PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference, argues that short-termism is a pandemic that continues to flourish unchecked within financial markets, resulting in significant long-term economic costs to investors...

The debt side of portfolios used to be the easy part of portfolio construction - but not these days! This Sector Insight summarises key themes and ratings from the recent Australian fixed interest sector review by Standard & Poor's Fund Services...

We asked the fund houses: What are the top 5 quant analytics practitioners should always consider and why?

Following the challenging period of the GFC, significant doubts arose as to the core value premise of FOHF products. This Sector Insight summarises the key themes and ratings from the recent review of the sector...

We asked: What, in your firm's view, is one of the big challenges facing the Australian funds research industry at present?

Is there any evidence to support the use of active international equities funds in portfolios? Plus, the growth of emerging markets allocations, and the rise of fundamental risk management...

We asked the research houses: What are the key risks your firm assesses when rating funds / products / capabilities - and why?

The Academy Winter Seminar 2011 debates the following three topics in a Socratic learning environment: How to build a framework for assessment of niche exposures in a portfolio; How to incorporate value strategies in equity portfolios; and, How to analyse investment scenarios and their implications for portfolios...

Post 1 July, New Zealand's financial advisers will be held to far greater account for the portfolios they build for clients - and this comes at a time when global investment markets are more volatile than at any other time in the past 20 years, and likely to remain so for years. Investment Symposium 2011 will help you better understand the pillars for building better quality investor portfolios...

How should we think about risk in portfolios? I put that question to a cross-section of prominent advisers, authors and academics. Their answers encompassed diverse opinions and underscored how crucial that question is to the investment process...

We asked the research houses: What asset classes / product types does your firm include under the 'alternatives' label? Why? How many strategies/funds do you rate in each?

The Academy Autumn Seminar 2011 will debate the following three topics in a Socratic learning environment: How to judge whether a manager will or has added value; Is investing post-retirement different?; and, How to spot global trends and draw investment inferences from them...

We asked the research houses: Of the 15,000 managed funds on offer in the Australian market, how do you determine which ones you will rate?

While the original Markowitz formulations might not be perfect, the problems in client portfolios during the last market meltdown can be traced to naive inputs...