Featured and Latest Posts

Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation: A Recipe for Underperformance
Strategic and tactical asset allocation may sound sophisticated, but often leads to sub-optimal investment outcomes—particularly when used by in-house investment managers at financial advisory firms. These strategies hinge on predicting market movements—a near impossible task. Worse yet, they can sometimes be a convenient way to justify unnecessary fund switches and rack up extra fees. The smarter approach? Stick to evidence-based strategies like market cap weighting and systematic factor investing. These are methods grounded in research rather than speculation.

Cryptocurrency as an Investment: A Speculative Gamble
Cryptocurrencies are often spoken about as the next big thing in investing, promising revolutionary change and financial freedom. Yet, they lack fundamental value, relying solely on market sentiment. In this post, we explore why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are more like speculative gambles than reliable investments, drawing parallels with traditional assets like stocks, bonds, and commercial property.

Why Stock and Fund Picking Is Detrimental to End-Client Outcomes
Stock and fund picking can be a costly distraction for financial advisers, often leading to suboptimal client outcomes. Instead of fixating on selecting the next outperforming asset, advisers would better serve their clients by dedicating time to comprehensive financial planning. This approach lends itself to financial security and aligns with evidence-based strategies that prioritise long-term success.

Why Picking Individual Stocks Is Not a Good Idea
Stock picking has long been romanticised — whether it’s a charismatic CEO on the cover of Fortune, Reddit-fuelled mania, or a tip from a friend who ‘got in early’. But despite the allure, the evidence is clear: picking individual stocks and consistently outperforming a given index is near impossible.
Here’s why the rational investor avoids it.
Good financial decisions aren’t about predicting the future—they’re about following a sound process today.
In investing, outcomes are noisy. Short-term performance often reflects randomness, not skill. Yet fund managers continue to pitch five-year track records as if they prove anything. They don’t.
As Ken French puts it, a five-year chart ‘tells you nothing’. The real skill lies in filtering out the noise—evaluating strategy, incentives, costs, and behavioural fit.
Don’t chase what worked recently. Stick with what works reliably.