Fund execs urged to look in the mirror

Fund executives need to ‘start with themselves’ if they truly want to understand how their trustee boards make decisions, according to Grant Brecht, an industrial psychologist. “The first place we need to start is ourselves and our personal style

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The English practice: what makes for winning advice in the UK

Boutique English firm Index Fund Advisors was recently named as the country’s top financial planning business by an industry publication. Its principals, Noel Farelly and Les Phillips, as their company name suggests, are anti-active management but their service offering has been rated above benchmark.

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Commodities boom: why the consensus view is short-sighted

Booming demand from China and India, coupled with supply constraints because of years of under-investment mean that commodities prices will stay high, despite last week’s correction, for the foreseeable future. Right? Unlikely, says Bill Miller, the chairman and chief investment officer of Legg Mason Capital in the US.

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Thumbs up for super changes – now for the haggling over details

The need for better transitionary arrangements for some people who had aimed to retire within the next few years represents the main adverse reaction to the sweeping changes to superannuation brought down in last week’s Federal Budget.

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