Wealth

Insights on wealth management, investments, and personal finance.

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Guides
Novel fund structures broaden access to private equity
As part of the alternative asset brigade, private equity (PE) was by all accounts supposed to be going gangbusters this year, but fresh insights by global alternative asset manager GCM Grosvenor suggest market conditions have been cooling for the last three years. What the Chicago-based GCM Grosvenor – which acts as the investment manager for the Pengana Private Equity Trust (ASX: PE1) - is witnessing is a significant slowdown in private equity realisations, which started back in 2022. Private equity realisations is institutional investor-speak for the fine art by which a private equity firm simply sells its ownership stake in a portfolio company or asset to generate a capital gain and return cash proceeds to its investors. While the slowdown in private equity realisation activity - within existing portfolios - coincided with interest rate rises back in 2022, what the market is yet to witness, notes GCM Grosvenor’s CIO Fred Pollock, is a valuation reset to reflect the higher cost of financing and lower valuation multiples relative to their publicly listed peers. According to Pollock, 2023 recorded the lowest U.S. exit value in the past decade, which caused “quite a bit of heartburn in the ecosystem for private equity”.
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The FS Power50: Australia’s top financial advisers
If the prospect of choosing a financial adviser appears too hard, why not start by running a ruler over the 50 advice professionals selected by their peers annually for demonstrating unwavering professionalism and providing outstanding service to their clients and wider community? Every year the Financial Standard curates votes from the advice community to come up with what’s regarded as the FS Power50. Given the popularity of these to 50 advisers, there’s no guarantee they’re actively looking to increase their client book, while others may prefer to work with certain types of clients.290 in Power50 alumniAfter 12 years of running the FS Power50 awards, there are now 290 financial advisers in the FS Power50 alumni. While some individual advisers repeatedly find themselves on this list year after year, this year there were a total of 20 changes from the previous list, including 10 new advisers named and another 10 rejoining. In light of the recent First Guardian scandal, where some advisers used their trusted position to funnel thousands of clients and their life savings into this dodgy investment fund - sometimes using aggressive sales tactics – the need to identify exemplary practitioners within the advice community i
Guides
Where to invest: Why scepticism on AI and gold matters
With investors desperate to back certainties within highly volatile markets, it’s becoming trickier to second-guess where you should park your money for long-term growth; after all, there’s no shortage of brokers, analysts and fund managers telling you where to find wealth-creating investments. While the market is currently placing ‘big bets’ on the back of prevailing global narratives around gold, private markets, uranium, AI and big tech, data centres and energy, to name a few, it’s important to stand back before piling on in. The price at which you enter any investment will have a major impact on your overall returns, and with the gold price starting to unravel, many investors could be setting themselves up for serial disappointment. With so many of these so-called ‘hot sectors’ displaying characteristics similar to one gigantic Ponzi scheme, investors who enter last are most at risk of financial loss. Is interest in gold waning? While gold is often touted as a ‘bet on fear’, the price of the precious yellow metal has dropped well below the psychological level of US$4,000, having recently surged above US$4,380/ounce. Based on his technical analysis of the XAU/USDT chart, Damian Chmiel of Finance Magnates sugges
Guides
LICs lag as macro headwinds hit performance
Given that they’re continuing to struggle with large discounts, it’s hardly surprising that Morningstar's latest research found that most of the 80-odd ASX listed investment companies – aka LICs - have underperformed the ASX 200 Total Return Index since the start of 2025. With LIC’s typically charging 1% to 1.5% of their of the net assets as a management fee, frustrated investors may choose to off-load underperforming LICs within the next 6-12 months in favour of low-cost and better performing exchange traded funds (ETFs). The latest industry pulse noted shares of asset managers are likely to remain volatile, as investor sentiment remains vulnerable to U.S. tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainties. As income without excessive risk becomes harder to find amid falling interest rates, it’s understandable why investors may look to equities-focused LICs to fill that gap. But in light of myriad macroeconomic headwinds, Morningstar’s research forecasts modest returns for LICs in the medium term after they achieved double-digit gains last year.Lumpier growth despite more rate cuts by the FedWhile equity markets appear buoyed by the prospect further rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve, Morningstar equity analyst Shaun Ler rem
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Invest in ASX outside over-priced banks - Morningstar
The Australian sharemarket presents many investment opportunities despite high valuations for most quality companies, according to Morningstar. The investment research firm said concentration was a risk in Australia, with more than half of the 32% return in the two years to August 2025 coming from the Big Four banks and Wesfarmers (ASX: WES). Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) contributed about 25% of these returns, and banks represented 25% of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) by market capitalisation, up from 19% two years ago. “Valuations of most blue chips look stretched, though a volatile reporting season did throw up new opportunities, including wide-moat Woolworths,” Morningstar Market Strategist Lochlan Halloway said. “It makes sense to be selective, and we see plenty of opportunities outside the expensive banks.” He said although the Australian and New Zealand companies it researched were trading at a 5% premium to fair value on an equal-weighted average at 30 September 2025, he saw many opportunities, particularly among companies outside the ASX 50 index. About 30% of these stocks had four-or five-star ratings, which is comfortably above the trailing 10-year average of about 25%, and almost 40% of unde

Wealth

Guides

Novel fund structures broaden access to private equity

The FS Power50: Australia’s top financial advisers

Where to invest: Why scepticism on AI and gold matters

LICs lag as macro headwinds hit performance

Invest in ASX outside over-priced banks - Morningstar

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