Diversified Income Newsletters

Australia hasn’t been immune as global interest rates head ever lower and conventional monetary policy reaches its limits. Over recent months, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has publicly contemplated at what point and how they would implement unconventional monetary policy or quantitative easing (QE).

In an environment where investment return expectations are low and many defensive assets are expensive, investors are faced with either accepting lower returns or increasing their risk tolerance in order to maintain returns. We understand that investors who are making an allocation to fixed income are attracted by the defensive characteristics fixed income offers, including liquidity, low capital volatility and income.

Like many sports, a good defence is critical to winning the long game when it comes to investing. A good offence will get you on the scoreboard but a good defence will help you win the game. As strong as your offence is, if your defence is weak, you won’t get very far.

It’s now been well over a decade since the global financial crisis (GFC) began. The unprecedented policy response by central banks in response to the GFC was characterised by exceptionally accommodative monetary policy.