Low returns are here to stay: Roger Montgomery
Investors should be seeking to maximise their alpha through market neutral or long-short strategies, rather than chasing high yields over the coming years, an investment manager believes.
Montgomery Investment Management chief investment officer, Roger Montgomery, said that while investors needed to have the option of going to cash, he warned against being fully invested in the market, as global interest rates hamper returns.
"It's the right time to invest in market neutral strategies or long-short strategies, or investing [in a] long-only investment, with a manager that can hold cash," he said.
Montgomery encouraged investors to "go for core growth and high growth funds" that have an intrinsic value, delivering both capital and income growth... noting that "29 per cent of the sovereign debt markets" have negative interest rates, while recent reports have shown that US junk bonds were at record levels and defaults rates have doubled since 2014.
He added that quantitative easing measures adopted by central banks, aimed at pushing out corporate failures and raise consumption, had "artificially raised consumption".
Recommended for you
Some 42 per cent of CEOs say they are actively reinventing their business to stay relevant in the next decade, with consumer services the most common choice for asset and wealth managers.
Former Ophir Asset Management chief executive, George Chirakis, has joined private equity manager Scarcity Partners, while the asset manager has appointed a replacement from Macquarie.
Australian Unity has appointed a fund manager for its Healthcare Property Trust, joining from Centuria Healthcare, as it restructures the product with a series of senior appointments.
Financial advisers nervous about the liquidity of private markets funds for their retail clients are the target of fund managers launching semi-liquid products which offer greater flexibility and redemptions.