September has arrived and the early signs of spring are emerging. My Nectarine tree begins to herald the coming of Spring in late August with the beautiful blossoms that only last a few weeks.

Change and seasons are part of life and provide a natural mechanism for the rhythms of life to change. They enable us to enjoy what we have more when what we have is absent for a period. In our family, the cold of Winter makes us appreciate Spring and Summer more. For others, the heat of Summer must be endured until respite of Winter emerges.

Seasons change for our investments too, and the Financial Year 2022 proved to be a winter of falling returns. It was the first year of significant negative returns for most diversified portfolios in over 10 years. The most significant characteristic of returns in the past 12 months has been the fall in bond prices that pulled conservative funds into negative returns.

Through July until late, we saw some recovery in the returns for both shares and bonds. At the time of writing, markets appear to be giving up some of those gains.

This is a new season of high inflation, rising interest rates, and falling asset prices across the board, including property and private equity. Sticking to a disciplined investment strategy is as important now as it has ever been. Some links to good market commentary are provided below if you would like additional background to the current market themes.

Australian property markets

With inflation breaking out in the Australian and global economies at rates not seen in forty years, rising interest rates, deployed by central banks to fight inflation, are expected to see property values decline. Shane Oliver from AMP Capital outlines three reasons why this property downturn will be different.

AMP Capital, along with most of the Australian banks, now expect property prices to decline 15% to 20% from recent highs, followed by gradual recovery.

Read more

Have investment markets hit bottom?

What can you expect from markets over the medium term? Greg Davis, Global Chief Investment Officer and Joe Davis, Global Chief Economist at Vanguard, answer this and more

Watch Video

Updated Financial Services Guide

Our transition to the Count Financial Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) has triggered an update to our Financial Services Guide (FSG). The updated version V21 June 2021 is available on the WSC Group website for your reference.

Should you have any questions you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Best regards, Matt Pack