How your portfolio performed
January 2026
The flagship Cornerstone balanced growth portfolio returned 1.06%1 for the December quarter and 10.82%2 for calendar year 2025. The diversified portfolio, which holds 70% growth assets and 30% defensive assets, benefits from a strategy which recognises when to add and reduce risk in moments that matter across markets.
Those moments in 2025 included the announcements of U.S. tariffs on President Trump’s “Liberation Day” in April. As the greenback weakened and U.S. shares fell around 20%, the portfolio’s global shareholdings hedged for currency movements were increased by 3%. This decision to buy when others were fearful added meaningfully to the overall return for the year.
Other positions that worked well in 2025 included:
Gold: The precious metal’s spot price had an incredible run in late 2025. The portfolio’s exposure – either through direct Australian shares, via the fund managers in our holdings or via a small exposure to gold futures contracts – made a difference to returns.
Australian shares: Our direct shares portfolio of 30 companies consistently outperformed the S&P/ASX 100 index. Early in the year, the Australian market rode the technology success story with our portfolio holding overweight positions in top performers like tracking app Life360, TechnologyOne and logistics software company WiseTech Global. In the second half of the year, overweight positions to Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining paid off as the resources sector had a resurgence.
Meanwhile, a decision to lower our holdings in healthcare companies paid off as the sector fell around 10.22%3 in the final quarter.
Managing risk over the next quarter
One of the larger global macroeconomic risks we’re watching is whether artificial intelligence companies and their capital expenditure create unnecessary largesse. Hyperscalers (or large cloud service providers) have to produce strong revenue to back this capex. If revenue doesn’t justify the spending, there could be a sharp sell-off in technology stocks.
An event such as this would create a large buying opportunity, just as “Liberation Day” did in 2025 (though we do not intend to take large risks in the foreseeable future).
We favour global stocks outside the U.S., and prefer Australian government bonds over U.S. treasuries at this juncture.
New fund manager in the mix
We continually assess the make up of our portfolios to ensure it is fit for purpose. Kopernik Global Investors – a deep value manager with significant exposure to commodities - has replaced Berenberg Asset Management following personnel changes at the latter.
2 Russell Investments
3 S&P Dow Jones Indicies
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Cornerstone Financial Group Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Invest Blue Pty Ltd , is an authorised representative and credit representative of Akumin Financial Planning Pty Limited ABN 89 051 208 327 Australian Financial Services Licence and Australian Credit Licence No. 232706. This website contains factual information only about the Cornerstone Portfolios. The information provided is not intended to imply any recommendation or opinion about a financial product. This website has not been prepared having regard to any retail investor’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision, an investor should also consider the latest disclosure document in respect of the Cornerstone Managed Portfolio (‘‘Disclosure Document’’) and / or seek financial advice in deciding whether to make or continue to hold, an investment in the Cornerstone Managed Portfolio. The Disclosure Document can be obtained by contacting a financial adviser or the platform operator(s) offering the Cornerstone Managed Portfolio.
Performance is net of management fees for both the Managed Portfolio and the underlying managers' fees and costs. It does not take into account any third-party platform fees charged to individual investors or transaction costs (including buy/sell spreads and brokerage fees). It assumes income is reinvested without any tax deduction. It is for RIM’s preferred model portfolio of holdings. A holding in the preferred model portfolio may be restricted or replaced with another similar asset in the Managed Portfolio on different platforms if the preferred holding is not available. Different platforms may also charge different management fees for the Managed Portfolio. This can result in variances in performance of the Managed Portfolio between platforms. An individual investor’s performance will differ, according to the investor’s actual exposures to Managed Portfolio holdings and other factors (including transaction timing, transaction costs, actual underlying manager fees and costs and whether income is paid in cash). Platforms will have their own methodology for calculating performance, at both a platform level and an individual investor level. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Russell Investment Management Ltd ABN 53 068 338 974, AFS Licence 247185 (RIM) the investment consultant to Invest Blue Pty Ltd for the Cornerstone Retirement Solution and Cornerstone Managed Portfolios. RIM is also the investment adviser to the issuers of the Cornerstone Managed Portfolios.