The past six months have been golden for investors, with everything from equities to gold and even Bitcoin enjoying stellar runs. And if risk assets are not your bag, then there have been juicy yields on offer across a range of cash and fixed-income asset classes.  Animal spirits woke from their slumber in late October 2023 when the Fed effectively claimed victory in the fight against inflation. Markets have been led to believe that rate cuts are a forgone conclusion in the year ahead, and...

Quality growth stocks, those with fortress balance sheets, impressive moats, structural tailwinds and top-notch management teams, have had a stellar run recently. Take Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) for example, which has risen 66% over the past year. Or Megaport (ASX: MP1), up over 252% in 12 months alone.  If you're like this anonymous writer, you've probably started to ponder whether it's time to trim some of your winning positions and take some profits.  And according to TMS Capital's Ben...

If there is one theme that has taken the world by storm in 2024, it's Artificial Intelligence or AI.  Until very recently, this week's guest was a bit of a sceptic, but a recent trip to the US has seen him come back a changed man. In this episode, we'll be sitting down with investment adviser Ben Clark of TMS Capital. We'll be learning about the wonderful world of growth investments, the key technological innovations that have him excited and his top holy grail stocks.  Here's a sneak peek of...

If there is any one investment product that has experienced a true boom over the last 10 years, it is exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded products (ETPs) more broadly.  The number of listed products has increased by 17.5 times in Australia during the last decade alone. More than 300 products are now listed across the ASX and CBOE exchanges and two million Australians have at least one ETF in their portfolio. And, as if you need more proof of the growth of ETPs, 2024 marked the...

Warryn Robertson, portfolio manager and analyst at Lazard Asset management, understands the nuances of infrastructure assets like few others in the market. His approach is to find monopoly assets with inflation protected revenues, high margins and reasonable leverage then buy them at attractive prices.  Of the 400 listed infrastructure stocks globally only 160 have passed the four filters and typically Lazard’s Global Listed Infrastructure Fund will own just 25 to 30 of those companies. Given...

"Living Legend", "One of a kind", and "Diamond in the Rough are not terms usually bandied about when describing economists! But these are just a few of the hundreds of messages of support and appreciation that flooded a recent social media post recognising the 40-year tenure Dr Shane Oliver to AMP. Shane has dedicated his years to educating Australians on all matters of the economy. His style tends to be glass half full, and you'll rarely hear him pushing doomsday forecasts. He also possesses...

If you’re looking for the future blue chips of the ASX then Washington H Soul Pattinson might be worth a closer look. The company has been around for more than a century, has never missed a dividend payment but, for the most part, has flown under investor radars. That is starting to change following the tie up with Milton Corporation in 2021, which has helped to propel Soul Patts’s market cap over $12 bn and into the S&P/ASX 50. Soul Patts now sits alongside popular names including...

The structural forces that saw growth investing rise to the top after the GFC remain. Covid created a blip, but the world is returning to slow growth, low inflation and lower interest rates. That's the perspective of Jason Orthman, the Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Brisbane-based Hyperion Asset Management.  Orthman says that neither you, me, nor our grandchildren are likely to experience an environment like 2022, where rapid interest rate hikes rocked long-duration assets such as...

Each year, Barron's releases a list of Australia's Top 100 Financial Advisers. Pitcher Partners' Charlie Viola and Lipman and Burgon Partners' Paul Burgon have featured high on this list over the years, and both ranked in the top 10 in 2023. As part of Livewire's Outlook Series for 2024, Livewire's James Marlay hosted an in-depth panel discussion exploring how these two investing gurus are allocating capital on behalf of their clients in 2024. Whilst there is no 'one size fits all' when it...

Two years ago, on a trip to Perth, Yarra Capita’s Dion Hershan was pitched the case for lithium stocks by his Uber driver. Hershan says it was a cliche moment and a classic example of a ‘ringing the bell’ sign. On the flip side, there are moments when deciding to invest causes your stomach to churn and your hands to quiver. “Some of the best ideas I’ve had in my career were when my stomach churned and my hands trembled when I put the trade on. That’s often a good lead indicator.” Recent...

The penny has dropped and thanks to a three-letter word from the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate decision ("any"), small caps both in the US and in Australia have started to rocket out of a long slumber. For most of the last 18 months, small cap performance at an index level has been smashed thanks to the soaring cost of capital. But now that markets have called central banks' bluff, we're entering what Ben Griffiths of Eley Griffiths Group calls a "pause rally" - the kind of rally...

Culture is not something that immediately springs to mind when assessing a company and its prospects for the future. More often than not, we investors are scouring profit and loss statements, comparing financial ratios and (if we have the time and skill) constructing valuation models. However, good culture is critical in a business; it takes a long time to build and is hard to maintain. And yet, it can take as little as one rogue employee to upset the delicate balance and ruin it...

Qiao Ma has had an extensive career in funds management including stops in New York working for hedge fund Jericho Capital and more recently Cooper Investors in Melbourne.   Earlier this year, Qiao joined Munro Partners, where it was recently announced that she would be leading the Munro Partners Global Growth and Mid-Cap Fund.    On the upcoming episode of the Rules of Investing – Qiao shares what it was like starting her career during the GFC, why she likes the small and mid-cap space, as...

From geopolitics to fiscal policy, commodities to equities, this week's featured guest on The Rules of Investing has some high-conviction views on a whole range of subjects.  For more than 40 years, Donald Amstad traded his way through the highs and lows of financial markets. After completing his undergraduate studies at Oxford University, Amstad began his career at Japanese trading house Nomura. He went on to hold roles at JPMorgan, JPMorgan Asset Management, and the Bank of America before...

Despite all of his success, Morry Waked has remained relatively under the radar. He’s not one to boast of his achievements, and he’s very rarely fronted the media. At Livewire, we dedicate ourselves to finding the best fund managers in Australia - and in a testament to how underground Morry is, he hadn’t even popped up on our radar. Last week, however, Morry found himself thrust into the spotlight and was inducted into the Australian Fund Manager Hall of Fame - joining a now 22-name strong...

The times when a company is dominating headlines (for all the wrong reasons) are the best time to buy.  Take Medibank Private (ASX: MPL), for example, which you may remember, was embroiled in a data breach in October 2022.  On the news, the stock's share price plummeted more than 20%. And while it still hasn't retraced its steps to its prior glory, astute investors who picked up the private health insurance provider on the cheap would have since enjoyed a return of around 22%.  Today, there...

Matthew Kidman is a well-known entity to readers of Livewire, as host of Success and More Interesting Stuff, Buy Hold Sell, and most recently, Livewire Live. Finally, we got him in the hot seat to run us through his own journey into funds management, his approach to investing, and the way he’s thinking about markets today. From hard truths on a squash court to starting his own shop, Centennial Asset Management, Matt’s story is one of happenstance. It’s also a story about the importance of...

Short sellers have had a tough time of it over the past decade. The era of free money lifted all boats, including companies that would perhaps otherwise be candidates for short selling.  Today's market is radically different. Central banks have lifted rates in a desperate attempt to control inflation. Global equity markets have performed well, but much of that performance can be attributed to the tech titans of the Nasdaq.  Consumers have less money to spend, while costs are up and top line...

We're constantly told that diversification is the only free lunch in finance. Yet most of the world's top investors choose not to eat it.  Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, John Maynard Keynes, Lou Simpson, George Soros. All run concentrated portfolios. Today's guest on the Rules of Investing is similarly esteemed, with a similarly concentrated portfolio.  Claremont's Bob Desmond runs a portfolio of just 10-15 "quality growth" stocks. And many of the stocks he owned during the 'free money'...

We're constantly told that diversification is the only free lunch in finance. Yet most of the world's top investors choose not to eat it. Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, John Maynard Keynes, Lou Simpson, George Soros. All run concentrated portfolios. The guest on this week’s episode of the Rules of Investing is similarly esteemed, with a similarly concentrated portfolio.  Claremont Global's Bob Desmond runs a portfolio of just 10-15 "quality growth" stocks.   What's more of the stocks he...

Ten years ago, investing was an easy game. Thanks to rates near zero and reckless fiscal spending, markets were drunk on liquidity. There was multiple expansion across the board, and winning was relatively easy. Pick an index, sit back and let multiple expansion take care of the rest. Today’s reality is far different. Volatility is high, correlations are weak, and the once reliable 60/40 portfolio is, well, not so reliable. In today’s episode of The Rules of Investing, I sit down with Frances...

There are a select few stocks on the ASX that boast true market darling status. Whereas other stocks sell off at the hint of bad news, market darlings seem to emit an aura effect on markets that itself attracts investment. Biotech company CSL is arguably the Aussie market’s preeminent market darling, having returned 5,741% since inception. For a while, it seemed like CSL could do no wrong. But even royalty can be dethroned... Today’s guest is Ray David, Portfolio Manager and Partner at...

Hello and welcome to the Rules of Investing, brought to you by Livewire Markets, I’m your host David Thornton. On the upcoming episode I sit down with Ray David, Portfolio Manager and Partner at Blackwattle Investment Partners. Alongside Joseph Koh, Ray runs Blackwattle’s brand new Long-Short Quality Fund. Ray has a red flag system for identifying his short and underweight positions. He put CSL through the ringer, and as you’ll learn, it spat out a sea of red flags. He also discusses the...

Livewire Live is an investor event like no other where Australia’s most experienced investors will debate the critical topics in markets right now. It is set to be an unmissable event with an exceptional lineup of speakers and innovative formats. Tickets will sell out, secure your spot here.  Speakers We will be announcing additional speakers in the coming weeks. Robert Millner, Chairman, Washington H Soul Pattinson Bobby Yazdani, Founder & Partner, Cota Capital Andrew...