Wealth

Insights on wealth management, investments, and personal finance.

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Guides
Middle East war: Friend or foe for investors?
Regardless of whether you believe the Trump administration’s unprovoked attack on Iran was a lurch towards peace in the region, or a distraction from [US] voter preoccupation with the Epstein files, there are material impacts for investors everywhere. While President Trump has signalled that Operation Epic Fury – now on day five - could be over in four to five weeks, markets are already speculating on the implications of it being a much more protracted affair. The declared objective is to drastically degrade Iran’s military capabilities and potentially trigger a change of regime. Iran’s initial reaction has included wide-ranging attacks on other countries in the region, including not just U.S. military bases but also civilian targets and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar. Black swan falloutThat’s not great news for investors or the capital market, both of whom want to make investment decisions based on as much certainty as possible. In anyone’s language, the U.S war with Iran is what analysts call a black swan event; rare and unpredictable with widespread, or potentially catastrophic consequences. While they’re bad for investors in the short term, these blac
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Contrarian plays as M&A wave builds
With local CEOs and foreign investors now circling a growing cadre of unloved ASX stocks – trading at widening discounts to fair value – now might be the time to play contrarian investor and buy in the hope of future spoils. The mountain of unspent capital that private equity firms are currently sitting on globally, along with Australia’s relatively weak dollar and mouth-watering valuation gaps – some exceeding 40% - has set the stage for heightened M&A activity in 2026. According to global law firm Ashurst, underlying conditions – from abundant private capital to available debt funding and sustained foreign interest – are firmly in place for a strong 12 months of M&A activity ahead.Cashed-up private equityPrivate equity buyouts rose 32% in value to US$30.5 billion across 95 deals, renewing momentum after subdued activity following the 2022 peak. Following a solid year for M&A activity in 2025 – anchored by the pending $11.7 billion deal for Qube (ASX: QBE) from Macquarie Asset Management – when 40 binding public M&A deals valued above $50 million were announced, Neil Pathak, partner and co-head of M&A at Ashurst, expects a rapid acceleration in M&A activity early 2026. Other noteworthy deals included the $12.7 billi
Guides
US tech rout widens door for ASX outperformance: Oliver
If the Australian share market were a Melbourne Cup starter, you wouldn’t - based on previous form - put an each-way bet on it to be a top-three finisher. Let’s not be coy, the ASX200 has struggled in recent years relative to its global peers. As of February 2026, the main board of the Australian bourse has risen around 35.21% since February 2021, while the U.S. S&P 500 surged 79.41%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 nearly doubled with a gain of 97.67% over the same period. Underpinning the underperformance of Australian equities is its "old world" sector composition, - overly exposed to banks and miners - extreme sensitivity to both the Chinese economy and rising domestic interest rates. Also adding to the ASX’s laggard moniker – relative to its peers - is the exodus of market-moving large-caps into the hands of private equity.Is the tide turning?Due to insufficient capital growth, compared to high-growth international sectors like U.S. technology, the ASX has delivered a total return of approximately 119% since 2008, while the S&P 500 has risen by 305% over the same period. However, after years of being the perennial loser in the global performance stakes, there’s renewed optimism that the tide is finally turning for Aussie e
Guides
Giving wealth creation a crack without excessive risk
With wages growth having flat-lined in Australia over the last decade, amid runaway house prices, twenty-somethings (Gen Zs), desperate to get ahead financially, can be forgiven for asking their baby-boomer parents – often accused of having the best of everything – one overarching question: ‘When investment markets resemble glorified Ponzi schemes, will we ever become financially independent like you and how do we do it?’ Any explanation that begins with, ‘well, you’ve got to pay your dues, life is earnest’ is immediately shut down. Gen Z investors want tactical solutions they can apply now, not preachy old-school rhetoric or history lessons from those they accuse of walking derrière-backwards into wealth that’s no longer within [everyone’s] reach.All or nothingSadly, the Reddit brigade," specifically through the r/WallStreetBets (WSB) community, created a false impression of easy wealth by transforming high-risk speculation into a viral, communal, and gamified experience. This movement, most evident during the 2021 GameStop short squeeze, used a unique blend of meme-driven humour, coordinated collective action, and non-conformist narratives to encourage inexperienced retail investors to put all their savings into v
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How high-frequency trading turns volatility into profit
Retail investors who feel whiplashed by the high levels of unpredictability within capital markets can lean into this volatility by utilising the largely misunderstood fine art of high-frequency trading and arbitrage. Well before artificial intelligence (AI) was even in short pants, high-frequency trading arbitrage firms were pioneering the use of big data on which they ultimately built their fortunes. What these firms do with big data is look for things to trade thousands of times a day to capture fractions of a cent multiple times. While this explains the value of high frequency, arbitrage is simply the financial equivalent of "bargain hunting" to flip a product for an immediate, near-certain profit. By doing this, Jim Simons, founder of Renaissance Technologies, was widely considered a more successful investor - in terms of average annual returns - than Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett. While Simons’ flagship Medallion Fund has achieved an astronomical 63% gross average annual return for the last 45 years, since taking over Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, Buffett has averaged a 19.8% to 22% annual return.HFT firms in AustraliaTo put the success of Simons’ high-frequency trading (HFT) model into context, $10,000 p

Wealth

Guides

Middle East war: Friend or foe for investors?

Contrarian plays as M&A wave builds

US tech rout widens door for ASX outperformance: Oliver

Giving wealth creation a crack without excessive risk

How high-frequency trading turns volatility into profit

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