Millennials to drive huge passive funds management switch, threatening jobs
The massive generational group of Millennials will accelerate the seismic shift to passive fund management as they seek to grow and protect their wealth, costing the jobs of more stock-picking professionals, according to investment specialists. Jay Pelosky, principal of New York-based Pelosky Global Strategies, said the Millennials’ greater experience with technology compared with Baby Boomers, distrust of so-called “experts” since the 2008-09 financial crisis and debt burdens from university education, meant they were attracted to low-fee automated investing such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and robo advice. “There will be a much greater and sustained move towards passive investing in part because of the Millennials,” said Mr Pelosky, a former Morgan […]
Sydney robo-advisor founded by ex-UBS portfolio manager raises $3 million in series B
Sydney fintech Stockspot has secured $3 million in a series B capital raising round, the startup revealed on Thursday. Stockspot is a digital investment advisor, commonly known as a robo-advisor, and a fund manager founded by chief executive Chris Brycki, a former UBS and BlueLake Partners portfolio manager. ETF Securities founder Graham Tuckwell and Australian firm Alium Capital, which invested in HealthEngine and Nitro last month, led the $3 million round. Stockspot also revealed that H2’s Toby and Ben Heap, who were already investors, and “algorithmic trading” entrepreneur Danny Bhandari contributed to the series B. “Graham is a global exchange-traded fund (ETF) pioneer, having invented exchange traded commodities and built […]
Ignition Wealth announces goals-based investing
Ignition Wealth CEO Mark Fordree today announced a groundbreaking development as Ignition Wealth becomes the first Australian ‘robo-adviser’ to offer goals-based investing. Ignition Wealth has appointed SiResearch to provide adaptive asset allocation built around goals which have a specific objective and timeframe. Traditional risk assessment has focussed on the investor’s long-term goals, often focussing simply on retirement. The goals-based model acknowledges that investors’ goals may fall into several buckets including short term, medium term and legacy. “In reality an investor’s attitude to risk is influenced by what their goal is and the date by when they want to achieve it. The SiResearch goals-based investment model adds a specific objective […]
Exchange trade funds to over take listed investment companies by 2018
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are poised to overtake listed investment companies as the most popular pooled investment option on the ASX within two years if current trends persist. ASX data for November shows that the value of ETFs rose by 17 per cent to $24.5 billion, while the value of listed investment companies rose just 2.3 per cent to $30.5 billion. Experts point to the increasing sophistication of investors, regulatory change, growing numbers of ETF strategies available at low cost and the rise of the self-managed super fund as among the key forces driving ETF fund flows. Listed investment companies, which have a long history of performing for retail funds, […]
International share trading made easy for financial advisers by Macrovue
Macrovue, Australia’s first global thematic brokerage and trading platform, has taken the wraps off a new global share trading solution aimed at easing complexity, time, and costs for Australian financial advisers and their clients. Sid Sahgal, Macrovue CEO said: “We offer the flexibility to create, trade, and rebalance share-based portfolios built from scratch by advisers, choosing from 20,000 securities and ETFs listed on over 18 global exchanges.“ Mr Sahgal noted that a surprising number of advisers are still using manual trading systems (paper and telephones) to buy and sell global stocks. “Our platform features paperless client on-boarding, one integrated trading platform for global and domestic stocks, powerful […]
Money for millennials: six popular investment options
Millennials have been locked out of the housing market, so are there other avenues of investment open to them? Certainly, the finance industry is working hard on creating products for younger people, but where to turn? The plan for young Aussies has always been: work hard, save your money, buy a house, start a family, then worry about the rest later. Now that the average 20 per cent deposit in Sydney and Melbourne sits at $156,000 and $115,200, respectively, part three (buy a home) in that classic four-point plan is changing. Claire Mackay, a director at Quantum Financial, says that whatever investment choice is made by a millennial investor, the […]
Robo-advice not ’biased’ during volatility
Human advice may be outperformed by robo-advice during times of market volatility, considering automated tools are not subject to behavioural bias, says BetaSmartz. BetaSmartz chief executive John James said eliminating behavioural bias means that robo-advisers will accurately manage risk, and “will always have an advantage over humans”. Mr James argued that robos are not subject to a domestic or “home bias” to the extent that human advisers are. “This [domestic] bias can limit diversification and, in a volatile environment, completely exposing an investor to just one market may not be the optimal way to meet their goal,” he said. He explained that robo-advisers can easily navigate volatility because they have […]
