We recently held another of our financial services roundtables - this time in Sydney – with executives from financial services companies who provided their outlook on the financial landscape with journalists. In attendance was GSFM’s Stephen Miller, Fidelity International’s Lukasz De Pourdaix, Australian Philanthropic Services’ Judith Fiander and ECP Asset Management’s Andrew Dale.  

Stephen Miller set the scene with a macroeconomic overview noting that if the RBA had been on a narrow path to taming inflation, that path now resembled a tightrope. He said while bonds in a portfolio were now more attractive, it was no longer a 60/40 scenario. Now it is a 40/30/30allocation - with the last 30 per cent focused on investments that are uncorrelated to bond and equity returns.

Lukasz De Pourdaix spoke about the importance of keeping liquidity risk in focus and said that liquidity moves markets. He noted current economic conditions mean that the good old boring bond is making a comeback and said market are oscillating between a soft landing and no landing.

Judith Fiander spoke about the tax advantages of private ancillary funds and how 50 per cent of Australians earning over $1 million are not taking advantage of the tax cuts for charitable donation. She said that we don’t need to rely on billionaires for philanthropy and everyday Australians can establish a philanthropic sub-fund for as little as $40,000.

Andrew Dale spoke about the importance of focusing on bottom-up stock selection from high quality companies. He pointed to Lovisa as an example of a stock that has performed well in comparison to larger corporations like Woolworths, as a result of its cheaper labour costs. He also pointed to the high cost of housing in Australia and noted any interest rate cuts would be “rocket fuel” for the housing market.

In attendance were journalists from Australian Associated Press, ABC, The Sydney MorningHerald, The Australian, Firstlinks, Wall Street Journal and Financial Standard.

Overall, there was great discussion, and we thank all who attended.

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