Funds Management

Beating the market benchmark is never easy, with 72 per cent of Australian actively managed global equity general funds trailing the S&P World Index in the six months to June 30, 2024. Domestic equity funds performed slightly better, albeit against a significantly lower bar set by the S&P/ASX 200 Index.

The value of Australian’s superannuation pool rose to a record high of $3.62 trillion in the June quarter, a highlight of the managed funds industry’s surging overall performance over the past year as rising rates and rebounding markets improved asset values.

Focussing on a concentrated portfolio of quality and growing stocks can expose investors to strong profit growth and some of the best companies in the world, Claremont Global’s Bob Desmond said at the Inside Network’s recent Investment Leaders Forum. It just requires thinking through the noise and understanding a company’s culture.

Multi-asset index funds offer the benefits of passive investment strategies with added diversification, says AMP’s Stephen Flegg, but investors should be aware of how a fund manager’s choices and risk profile may affect performance.

The 35th iteration of the awards saw Franklin Templeton Australia beat out fellow finalists BlackRock, Lazard, VanEck and Macquarie Asset Management to take out the Fund Manager of the Year award.

While active can provides pockets of outperformance both here and globally, research from S&P Global suggests maintaining above-benchmark returns is difficult to maintain.

The recent re-embrace of active equity management by Australia’s sovereign wealth fund may herald a shift in the active-versus-passive debate, industry leaders said, as market volatility prompts greater dispersion and allows active management – at the right price – to prove its worth.

Much of what keeps Australian investors up at night – and the biggest investment mistakes they make – could be avoided through a greater focus on financial literacy, especially as markets “start acting like markets again”, the private wealth manager’s directors Jamie Nemtsas and Drew Meredith said.

The 2023 EY Global Wealth Management Research Report showed 37 per cent of Australian investors think managing their wealth has become more complex in the past two years, with nearly half reporting they are looking for more financial advice across investment services.

Dividend investing can be a good source of defensive income in volatile times, but changing fundamentals mean resources companies and banks may be the weaker play in 2023, with opportunities emerging beyond these traditional Australian dividend payers – although valuation will be key.

Nearly 58 per cent of actively managed Australian equity general funds failed to beat the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark in 2022 following a difficult H2, a new report says. That’s better than most years.

With private equity becoming more accessible, retail investors can now take advantage of the asymmetry-of-information and diversification benefits PE offers, while its safe-haven characteristics stand out in the uncertain macro environment, according to David Chan and Cameron Brownjohn.