The largest pension and sovereign wealth funds in the world – especially Australian super funds – are continuing to grow faster than their peers, according to the latest annual Watson Wyatt survey.
Fortitude's moves to get more capital
As funding from its major clients – offshore hedge fund-of-funds (FoFs) – continues to dry up, domestic hedge fund Fortitude Capital has begun canvassing ways of garnering more capital from investors in its home market.
St John the mentor
In case you were wondering, David St John is doing fine, thanks, and has every intention of taking the six-month break he promised himself when he departed the UniSuper chief investment officer position on March 31. Unbalanced spoke to St John last month after he’d returned from a stay at his Snowy Mountains farm, where the chilly weather means his sheep produce a very nice grade of wool (19 microns, David tells us).
St John the mentor
In case you were wondering, David St John is doing fine, thanks, and has every intention of taking the six-month break he promised himself when he departed the UniSuper chief investment officer position on March 31. Unbalanced spoke to St John last month after he’d returned from a stay at his Snowy Mountains farm, where the chilly weather means his sheep produce a very nice grade of wool (19 microns, David tells us).
Funds Manager Idol: only in the Phillipines
Funds manager beauty parades are a bit passé in Australia these days, but in the Phillipines they like them so much they televise the things. This came as something of a shock to Martin Donnelly, deputy chief executive of ING Investment Management, when he went to Manila pitching for a piece of the Government Service Insurance System’s first offshore allocation. The public sector fund, hitherto concentrated in Filipino T-bonds, had put US$1 billion up for grabs (roughly 12 per cent of its assets), with the promise of more mandates to come.
Funds Manager Idol: only in the Phillipines
Funds manager beauty parades are a bit passé in Australia these days, but in the Phillipines they like them so much they televise the things. This came as something of a shock to Martin Donnelly, deputy chief executive of ING Investment Management, when he went to Manila pitching for a piece of the Government Service Insurance System’s first offshore allocation. The public sector fund, hitherto concentrated in Filipino T-bonds, had put US$1 billion up for grabs (roughly 12 per cent of its assets), with the promise of more mandates to come.
Crispin mulls ‘semiretirement’
Crispin Murray was mostly in good form at last month’s launch of Standard & Poors’ ‘Active Vs Passive Scorecard’ to the Australian market. The Scorecard showed two-thirds of Australia’s active Australian equities managers had underperformed the S&P/ASX 200 in the five years to June 2009, but the guy who runs the asset class for BT Investment Management pointed out the comparison was a little unfair.
Crispin mulls ‘semiretirement’
Crispin Murray was mostly in good form at last month’s launch of Standard & Poors’ ‘Active Vs Passive Scorecard’ to the Australian market. The Scorecard showed two-thirds of Australia’s active Australian equities managers had underperformed the S&P/ASX 200 in the five years to June 2009, but the guy who runs the asset class for BT … Read more
Wealth-weighted indexing: so rock ‘n roll
It’s all too common for investors to compare their style with a Warren Buffet or a David Swensen, but the CEO of Global Wealth Allocation, David Morris, takes a much cooler approach to creating some reflected glory. As the founder of ‘wealth-weighted’ indexing (don’t get him started on those more commercially successful fundamental indexers), Morris is obviously no price-worshipper from the Harry Markowitz school. “Modern portfolio theory is not economics.
Wealth-weighted indexing: so rock ‘n roll
It’s all too common for investors to compare their style with a Warren Buffet or a David Swensen, but the CEO of Global Wealth Allocation, David Morris, takes a much cooler approach to creating some reflected glory. As the founder of ‘wealth-weighted’ indexing (don’t get him started on those more commercially successful fundamental indexers), Morris is obviously no price-worshipper from the Harry Markowitz school. “Modern portfolio theory is not economics.
Older workers need catch-up contribution caps
Most people know that saving for their retirement – like eating green vegetables and exercising daily – is good for them. But while gym memberships are booming and low-fat cookbooks are flying off the shelves, it’s a lot harder to convince the average Australian of the merits of boosting their superannuation balance. But saving for retirement isn’t just a matter of discipline. It’s also about having sufficient disposable income to take advantage of salary sacrifice opportunities. And for most Australians, this doesn’t happen until they reach the tail end of their working life. Until then, buying a home, paying off the mortgage and meeting the costs of raising children understandably takes top priority. With this in mind, AIST is urging the Federal Government to rethink its new concessional cap limits on voluntary contributions for older workers. We believe that the new measures – announced in this year’s Federal Budget – will hamper the ability of a significant number of older members with relatively modest superannuation balances to catch-up on their super as they approach retirement.
