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At first glance the proposed new changes to small business insolvency and liquidation seem positive, but who lends to the businesses and how do they raise funding? It soon becomes apparent that the changes will impact more than just small businesses. With modest fanfare, the government announced changes to the...

“Bonds are the underwear in your portfolio – unexciting and not much thought about, but select the wrong pair and you’ll be surprised at just how uncomfortable you are.” - Dr William Bernstein Like a good foundation garment, bonds should be the boring but predictable base of every investment portfolio –...

Can Government Bonds Continue to Act as Defensive Investments? Government bond markets are now at the precipice of a paradigm shift. Unprecedented global fiscal stimulus. Extreme monetary policy experiments. Yields at multi-century lows. In combination, these factors fundamentally change the risk vs. reward proposition of government bonds. So much so, they...

Australian retail investors are at a distinct disadvantage in the bond market. Credit ratings are an important indication of the perceived future risk of an investment, but brokers are not able to show them to retail investors because of a quirky ASIC ruling. The credit rating agencies refused to pay higher...

A conventional approach to “risk” in fixed income is the idea of a single obligor default risk, i.e. the risk of an individual borrower failing to repay amounts to a lender when they are due, resulting in a potential loss to that lender. This risk is generally well understood...

Think of the last time you made a large purchase, such as a car, house, or even a TV. You would have compared products before you made your decision. In the investment world, bond yields are used as a key comparison in the valuation process for many different assets and...

Is my fund manager doing a good job? Fund managers play an important role in the provision of secure retirements for millions of Australians. So, it is important to be able to assess a fund manager’s performance. It remains very common for market benchmarks to be used in this assessment...

Non-government debt, also known as credit or corporate bonds, is a key part of the broader fixed income universe. Historical performance data shows that credit has favourable risk and return characteristics that can complement an allocation to cash, government debt, and riskier assets such as equities. However, credit is a broad...

Barry Ziegler, Head of Fixed Income at Bell Potter talks about his fascinating career and experience. Barry was involved in bringing the first retail hybrid, the National Australia Bank NABHAs to market 21 years ago, and gives us his views on the state of the hybrid market. What first attracted...

High grade sovereign (or government) bonds remain as relevant as ever in an uncertain and complex market environment. Today’s bond yields are indeed low, and some investors may be finding it difficult to justify a portfolio allocation to high grade bonds. However, research and experience shows that in periods of...