As the dust settles on COP30 in Belém, one message stands out: the global energy transition is no longer a question of if, but how fast. But that doesn’t mean the work is done – in fact, the stakes have never been higher.
New global research reveals that Australia’s housing affordability crisis might be denting confidence about retirement, with Australians revealed as more pessimistic than their global peers, and property prices pinpointed as a culprit.
If super funds are to act as genuine ‘retirement partners’ to the coming wave of retirees, the Sole Purpose Test must be refashioned to allow funds to support members more broadly than they currently do.
The old perception of “risky” emerging markets and “stable” developed markets is being turned upside down as emerging market economies show more disciplined fiscal and monetary policy than many of their developed peers.
Cbus has partially sold its stake in Frontier Advisors to the $4 billion First Super in the wake of the asset consultant’s move to lift out State Super’s investment team and create an “independent chief investment officer” business.
The circa $30 billion TelstraSuper will close its RetireAccess Lifetime Pension product and transfer members to an equivalent Challenger product ahead of its merger with Aware Super.
The US is orienting its foreign policy towards securing access to critical minerals that underpin its economy and defence, according to Veracity Worldwide, and asset owners are taking note of the shift.
The benefits of financial advice are clear for members, but for super funds to reimagine advice as a service available to all members will require someone in the organisation to master complexity, capability, connectivity and capital, and to be a champion for the cause. That someone is the future chief advice officer.
The $4.5 billion Vanguard Super has celebrated three years in the market with double-digit annual returns but is turning its attention to further operational uplift as it looks to open up new growth channels.
Realignment of the global security order and politicisation of institutions is forcing asset owners to rethink their investment theses for certain countries, while political dysfunction also presents a growing threat to market stability.
Directing super funds to invest in nation-building projects could see money flow from the APRA-regulated system and into SMSFs, according to UniSuper CIO John Pearce, who also suggested that super funds were hitting portfolio limits for unlisted assets.
The total portfolio approach can help investors generate better returns in an “increasingly complex and uncertain environment” by changing the way they think about everything from manager research to dynamic asset allocation, according to the Thinking Ahead Institute.
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Investment Magazine provides in-depth, monthly analysis of trends and developments for all the businesses in which superannuation funds engage‚ including asset allocation, investment manager selection, custody and fund accounting, member administration, group insurance and compliance.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land upon which Conexus Financial sits, the Cadigal of the Eora Nation. We recognise their continuing connection and unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and community. We pay our deepest respects to them and their culture, and to Elders both past and present.
