More than a quarter of the 200 financial advisers we surveyed are considering more sophisticated options, in particular real return funds when reviewing clients’ portfolios, given the current market environment.

As Australian investors look for high-income alternatives to term deposits, many are considering exchange traded funds (ETFs). ETFs trade like an equity investment, offering investors access to a diversified, liquid and transparent high-yield investment at lower cost than actively managed funds. But not all ETFs are created equal. For the last five years, the Russell Investments’ High Dividend Australian Shares ETF (ASX code: RDV) has outperformed its closest rivals. Portfolio Manager, James Harwood, explains why.

As tensions continue to rise between North Korea and US, we share current watchpoints and market implications for the Asia-pacific region

Russell Investments believes that high momentum stocks will generate higher returns than low momentum stocks over a market cycle. To capture this momentum premium, Russell Investments’ equity funds are typically exposed to an allocation of high momentum stocks through a market cycle. But momentum portfolios can be subject to “momentum crashes”. Russell Investments therefore dynamically manage allocations to these high momentum stocks looking at three broad indicators - cycle, valuation and sentiment.

You can’t see the forest for the trees: It’s a saying as old as time. The thinking goes that you’re so focused on a few things in front of you that you can’t take a step back and see the bigger picture.

In 2017, the trees are U.S. equities—and make no mistake, they’re giant ones, standing tall front and center. The forest is a significant portion of your portfolio.

Yes, U.S. stocks are high. And their related indexes are, in some cases, higher than they’ve ever been. The problem? They’re obscuring investors from peering deeper in—from seeing beyond a short-term time horizon into what else could thrive in their portfolios. Blame it on sentiment and cycle.

This article explores the implications of Russell Investments' latest strategist outlook for investors and their portfolios.

This article shows the dramatic impact of an investor's choice of response during market turmoil on their future wealth balance.

History suggests that periods of sharp declines have often been followed by periods of some of the most favourable returns. Figure 1 shows the strong returns of U.S. markets during the 12 – 24 month periods following some of the sharpest declines of the past 40+ years. Even after the severe market falls (including the Oil Shock in the 1970s, stock market crash in 1987, ‘Tech Bubble’ in the early 2000s and the global financial crisis) where stocks lost up to half of their value over a short period of time, markets have bounced back to new highs after each shock.

If you’ve followed the news, you’ve seen that over the last few months, my alma mater, Harvard University, has gone through several changes at their endowment—the largest academic endowment in the world. After years of middling returns and a well below peer return of (gasp!) 8% last year, Harvard has brought in a new CEO of the Harvard Management Company. His first change: to move from a portfolio of asset class sleeves to a generalist investment model in which all members of the investment team take ownership of the entire portfolio. We see this approach clearly as multi-asset.

Cyclical strength in Europe and the emerging markets has rippled back into the U.S. market, helping large-cap businesses beat earnings expectations for two consecutive quarters. However, domestic fundamentals still look mediocre.