Dylan Greenway provides a brief introduction to agricultural schemes which have recently had such bad press. Greenway argues that agricultural schemes which typically last from 6 to 25 years have low or negative correlation to traditional investments. ... Read more

The increase in popularity of contracts for difference (CFDs) has been one of the hottest topics in personal finance over the past few years. From a standing start just six years ago, CFDs have grown to be the most popular retail derivative product ... Read more

Managed accounts are not new - they are an evolution in money management in Australia - retail unit trusts, master trust, wrap and now managed accounts. They have been used in the US for many years and were adopted early on by brokers who had a discretionary ... Read more

Conventional wisdom suggests that attempting to add value through the active management of currencies is doomed to failure due to the efficiency of the currency market. However, this assumption is not entirely correct because the currency market is ... Read more

The 20th century British economist John Maynard Keynes has said "Markets can be wrong for longer than you can be solvent." This sentiment resonates very well with investors who have faced the highs and lows of stock markets across the world. ... Read more

Many everyday investors do not use options as part of their investment strategy; it is viewed as either too risky or too complex. There are numerous advantages in using options strategically in a portfolio. Mainly, they can be used to generate an income ... Read more

After more than three years of exceptional returns from Australian equities, financial advisers and the research houses and fund managers that serve them are asking - 'is it time to switch more capital back to international equities?' Anecdotal ... Read more

Everybody's talking about hedge funds, but a lot of what they're saying doesn't make much sense. Some of the nonsense emanates from within the hedge fund community, where marketing people sometimes make exaggerated claims about the strategies ... Read more

The days of investors and planners relying on fund managers' track records to judge their performance are over. Inalytics introduces a new approach to measuring their investment skills. Skill is at the heart of all active investment processes, yet ... Read more

This paper addresses some of the key issues and benefits of altern at give investments from SELECT's perspective. We hope that it will assist advisers and investors in better understanding alternative investments and, importantly, how to incorporate ... Read more