Basis Points

It was once a given that investing across a variety of asset classes, meant you were diversified. Today’s guest believes that may no longer be the case. AI for example touches debt, equities and infrastructure. When the old asset-class labels no longer explain the risks and opportunities, what should advisers change in client portfolios? John Woods, the Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of...

Jason Entwistle is worried. Australian advisers have one of the highest AI adoption rates in the world at a time when there are so many "shiny new toys” coming out. But he sees a real risk to the speed of this adoption. Taking up AI tools without enough DD could lead the industry to “end up in a bit of a scandal where data has ended up in the wrong spot,” giving the regulator another reason t...

The world’s biggest technology companies are burning through their once-abundant cash reserves to fund the AI arms race. Increasingly, they’re turning to debt markets to fund the buildout. That means the most speculative part of the market is finding its way into defensives. So what does that mean for advisers and their clients? Fixed Income Director at Capital Group, Haran Karunakaran, joins Ally...

What separates advice practices that scale well from those that get stuck? After meeting with thousands of advisers, Trellia Wealth Partners Managing Partner Cameron Spittle says the difference often comes down to one thing: the operating model. In this episode you will learn: How leaders can create greater adviser capacity Ways to improve operational efficiency, and deliver better client outcomes...

The rules around leverage have changed. So what does that mean for advisers? With residential property LRBAs no longer available inside SMSFs, instalment warrants remain one way advisers can use leverage in super. Citi Global Markets Director Elizabeth Tian and Five Financial Managing Partner and Head of Advice Jason Petersen join Ally to explain how instalment warrants actually work, where they f...

AI tools have had a very “superficial” impact on financial advice so far. That’s according to today’s guest Simon O’Keefe, founder and CEO of Alcova, an AI adoption and safety company for Australian wealth management firms. He believes AI can be a “big unlock” for persistent capacity constraints the industry faces. But that so far, financial advisers are using it in ways that barely scratch the su...

Defensive assets are meant to be the boring part of a portfolio. Now, it’s where advisers are making some of their hardest calls. Bonds spent the past few decades earning a reputation as the go-to hedge to equities. Since 2022, that reputation has been tested, with the correlation between the two asset classes flipping to positive territory. So, are bonds broken? Are they still good diversifiers f...

Stephen Otter, Partners Group’s Global Head of Private Markets Royalties, argues that royalties are uncorrelated to markets, low volatility, an inflation hedge, and generate a predictable yield. So, it’s surprising that most investors still have zero allocation to the asset class - despite royalties being around for a good 600 years. They originated with royal families (as the name suggests), wher...

Grant Hackett has now spent more time working in finance than he did in the pool, but he’s still best known for being one of, if not the greatest, distance swimmers Australia has ever produced. Hackett hung up his goggles in 2008 and is now the group CEO of ASX-listed Generation Development Group. In this episode of Basis Points, he takes advisers through the highs and lows of his Olympic career,...

Will Hamilton has enshrined a simple belief at Hamilton Wealth Partners: Most financial advice practices pay lip service to client experience, yet it makes all the difference in the eyes of clients. In this episode, he shares how HWP differentiates through hyper-personalised service, from capping advisers at 50 clients to running large-scale client events that function more like weddings than semi...

Advisers’ entire tech stack will collapse in the next two years; that is the bold prediction of Paradino AI Co-Founder and CEO Alex Gassner. He sees the glaring gap between the 15,000 financial advisers in Australia and those 16 million Australian’s who need advice, as being closed in one way only- by purpose-built AI tools. Courtenay Fox, Co-Founder of Fox & Hare Financial, knows this firstha...

The Hall of Fame fund manager and IML founder, Anton Tagliaferro, has seen enough cycles to know we’re nearing the top. He is convinced we are in a "speculative frenzy" of a bubble. In this episode, he provides his outlook on markets and where he’s seeing value. Chapters : 00:00 Introduction 01:22 AI Bubble or Déjà Vu? 03:54 Why AI May Disappoint 07:40 Is Value Investing Dead? 10:17 How Anton Inve...

Do you understand what you're investing in within private credit? Frank Danieli, Managing Director and Head of Global Credit Solutions at MA Financial explains why that is so important. From funds providing better disclosures, to advisers having a clearer understanding of what classifies as “private credit”- Danieli talks through the road ahead for the asset class. Plus, Ally asks for his take on...

What will be the biggest risks and opportunities in markets over the next decade? While nobody has a crystal ball, Capital Group’s Investment Director Matt Reynolds joins the show to discuss the four structural shifts he believes will have the biggest impact on the decade to come. Plus, he explains the biggest mistake advisers are making with “diversified” portfolios. Chapters : 00:00 Introduction...

What if the strategy that built your clients' wealth is the same one quietly destroying it in retirement? A new report from Milford; When Timing Becomes the Biggest Risk in Retirement, suggests that retirement fundamentally changes the maths of investing- including Dollar Cost Averaging. Ally sits down with Regan van Berlo, Australian Country Manager at Milford, to hear how the report affects the...

The same portfolio mistakes keep showing up across adviser practices, and Jacqueline Fernley, Founder and OCIO of Arcpoint, has seen them all. When it comes to public markets, the mistakes look different but are just as costly. In this episode, we explore how you can avoid them. Plus how can advisers locate long term out-performers amongst the huge dispersion of performance in the asset class. Cha...

Welcome to 2026, where bonds no longer diversify stocks, volatility remains elevated and inflation isn't going anywhere. So how should advisers and their client portfolio’s respond? Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Australia Head of Investment Strategy and Solutions, Alexandre Ventelon, believes in this new market regime, advisers must brace for more volatility and “diversify their diversifiers”....

These 10 charts will challenge your thinking on AI and economic growth. Acclaimed macro strategist and Australia’s “king of charts”, Gerard Minack from Minack Advisors joins Ally in the studio bringing his analysis of 10 different charts - each of which will reshape how you think about markets. From AI to global equities to the war in Iran, these charts will disrupt what you thought was the status...

Want to learn how to sniff out red flags and greenwashing from a mile away? Australian Ethical’s Chief Impact & Ethics Officer Alison George has spent 20 years crafting her nose for it. In this episode she shares her Green and Red flags for choosing ESG funds plus the questions advisers can ask to cut through the greenwashing spin. She also tackles why the ethical investment industry needs to...

Is the 60/40 portfolio dead? What do Big Macs and Negronis have in common? Do bonds still diversify stocks? In this episode Andrew Norelli Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, unpacks the macro forces driving markets and some of the "big bad risks" investors need to be aware of. Andrew was brutally honest about the world's economic future. Host Ally left this conversation reeling fro...

While the world fixates on geopolitical headlines, there is one risk today’s guest believes investors have become complacent about. One that isn’t making headlines. There are significant levels of debt in the financial system, whether that’s at the consumer level, corporate level, or within governments. Chad Padowitz, the Co-Chief Investment Officer at Talaria Capital, believes ballooning global d...

Few Australians can say they were mentored by the late David Swensen - the legendary former Chief Investment Officer of the Yale Endowment Fund with one of the greatest long-term track records in history. Today’s guest is one of them. Anacacia Capital’s Jeremy Samuel, shares the lessons that shaped his approach across two decades of managing private and public markets. Chapters : 00:00 Introductio...

Today’s guest interviewed 800 financial advisers across the world, over the past 2 years. They all described experiencing the same problem; 80% of their time is spent on admin, just 20% talking to clients. It’s an advice efficiency problem. One that our guest is endeavouring solve with AI. Shak Lala is the co-founder of Marloo, an AI powered tech platform built for financial advisers. In this epis...

What if your ethics CPD this year actually made you a better advisor? Dr. Katherine Hunt, PhD-qualified financial planner and internationally recognised speaker on ethical growth, joins Basis Points to reveal how advisors can use client psychology and AI to scale trust, deepen relationships, and build a practice that compounds over generations. In this episode: 00:00 AI Era Client Experience 00:30...

Markets shrugged off a US-Iran conflict and rallied, but should they have? Canaccord CIO David Cassidy breaks down why a lot of good news is already priced in before a deal has even been reached. In this episode: 00:00 Market Setup And War Impact 04:40 RBA Risks And Aussie Outlook 08:05 Volatility Strategy And Corrections 12:05 Fixed Income And Private Markets 15:04 Rare Earths And ASX Opportuniti...