Investing Compass

After more than a decade where US technology stocks dominated global markets, late 2025 and early 2026 saw signs of a rotation. Less glamorous sectors like industrials and consumer staples, companies often considered ‘boring’ began to outperform the high-flying tech names that had captured investors’ attention for years. We revisit the work of Bob Haugen, a pioneering quantitative investor an...

Investors are often told that success comes from optimisation: lower fees, better tax outcomes, and the highest possible expected returns. In this episode we explore why the most efficient financial decision isn’t always the one that leads to the best life. You can find the full article here. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them...

Helping family members financially is common. Parents may contribute to a house deposit, grandparents might support education costs, or relatives may step in during difficult times. But financial gifts can have far reaching consequences that are easy to overlook. In this episode, we explore the key issues investors should consider before transferring money or assets to loved ones. You can find the...

Australia’s financial system - through tax policy, superannuation and retirement benchmarks implicitly assume that retirees own their own homes. Home ownership dramatically changes the amount Australians need to save for retirement. So, what if you don’t own and rent in retirement? This is an increasingly likely scenario for many Australians given the state of our housing market.  M...

The financial services industry tends to focus on how important it is to get started as early as possible. Starting to invest in your 20s provides a powerful advantage through compounding, but investors in their 30s, 40s and 50s have significant opportunities to build wealth and meaningfully improve financial outcomes. Mark and Shani look at how to harness these advantages. Read the full article h...

The issue with investing in broad market index products is that you are anything but a passive investor. Owning the market does not mean that you own everything equally. When you look closely, many of the most popular ETFs in Australia embed a set of structural bets that can materially shape outcomes over time. Mark and Shani run through these exposures in common passive ETFs, and alternatives for...

Mark and Shani discuss the lessons that investors can take from the GFC. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. You can read the full article here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independe...

Mark and Shani discuss the lessons that investors can take from the GFC. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. You can read the full article here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independe...

Morgan Housel's book Same As Ever has got Mark thinking - he runs through three underappreciated benefits of cash. You can find the full article here. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully....

Mark and Shani runs through what it would take for the typical Aussie to replace their salary with passive income.  You can find the full article here. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest su...

Mark runs through how he decided to change his super and what he changed it to. You can find the full article here. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide in...

Mr. Taxman, Adrian Raftery, listed 101 tax rules - Mark and Shani run through the ones that jumped out at Shani when she read the book. You can find the full article here. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to...

In this guest episode, we have James Gruber, Editor at Firstlinks. He has a debate with dividend lover Mark, about why he doesn't like dividends. You can find James' full article here. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with...

No one wants to think about what happens after you die, but a few steps can save your family a lot of pain at an already difficult time in their life. We run through three ways to make your family's life easier and give you peace of mind. You can find the full article here. Would you like more free insights from Mark, Shani and the rest of the Morningstar team? You can find them here. A message fr...

Droneshield has had a meteoric rise - and fall. We take a look at the back story - what the company does, what impacted the share price and importantly - what lessons investors can take from this. Disclaimer: Neither Mark or Shani own Droneshield. Morningstar analysts do not cover this company. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with t...

We take a look at the market going into 2026, and how investors should think about the year ahead. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independent, thoughtful analysis, backed by the work of hundreds of researchers and professionals at Morningstar. We’ve shared our j...

In this guest episode, we host Shamir Popat, Senior Analyst, Manager Research, at Morningstar. He runs through his report and findings on what investors should consider before investing in new ETFs. You can find more on the report here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to pr...

We take a look at the top episodes of 2025. In this episode, we take a deep dive into dividend ETFs and how investors can pick one that suits them by running through 4 dividend ETF examples. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independent, thoughtful analysis, backed...

We take a look at the top episodes of 2025. In this episode, Mark and Shani take a look at a quirk to one of the most generous tax concessions that we have in Australia, the CGT exemption for your home. The CGT exemption also allows for you to rent out your property for a number of years, and still claim the CGT-exempt status. We take a deep dive into the tax policy, the circumstances that it suit...

We look back at the top episodes of 2025. In a listener-requested episode, we look at the pros and cons of the US and Australian retirement systems. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independent, thoughtful analysis, backed by the work of hundreds of researchers an...

We take a look at our top episodes of 2025. In this episode, we look at the ETFs that would go into a 3 ETF portfolio, using Morningstar's Manager Research Medalist ratings. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independent, thoughtful analysis, backed by the work of h...

Maximisers spend a lot of time researching and thinking about the best choice to make. Satisficers settle for the best option that they can see with modest criteria. Mark and Shani run through how to determine what type of investor you are and what this means for you. You can find Christine's article, 'The case for a 'good enough' portfolio' here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five ye...

It's our annual Christmas gifts episode! We run through some gifts that you can give to your favourite investor, and we take part in our annual tradition of getting each other a gift. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independent, thoughtful analysis, backed by the...

In our guest episode today, we host Matt Wacher, Chief Investment Officer, APAC at Morningstar Investment Management (MIM). We run through where MIM sees opportunities, what they consider overvalued and how investors should approach markets. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived...

Shani and Mark speak about offset accounts. There are smart ways to take advantage of your offset account, but balance is the key. You can find the full article here. A message from Mark and Shani For the past five years, we’ve released a weekly podcast to arm you with the tools to invest successfully. We’ve always strived to provide independent, thoughtful analysis, backed by the work of hundreds...