At Forrest Private Wealth, our investment philosophy underpins our financial planning advice, which ensures our client’s wealth benefits from long-term exposure to equity markets. We believe holding a well-diversified portfolio of predominantly dividend-paying businesses over a long-term period is essential in financial planning for wealth accumulation and, ultimately, retirement planning.
By following our retirement planning process, a Forrest Private Wealth financial planner stays true to their investment advice, ignoring the noise and pressures of the market to provide their clients with a stress-free retirement. At Forrest Private Wealth, our financial planners capitalise on an investment philosophy that provides predictable income streams from equity markets, setting clients up for their desired retirement.
Long Term Portfolio
Markets softened in March on the back of a reset in interest rate expectations. In the US, stronger-than-expected inflation data pushed back the anticipated timeline for Federal Reserve rate cuts. Closer to home, the outlook remains more balanced — the RBA held rates steady, and inflation continues to ease gradually.
While volatility remains elevated, company fundamentals are holding up. Earnings outlooks are largely intact, and we’re seeing opportunities emerge as quality businesses are sold down amid broader market weakness.
The Long Portfolio continues to hold a blend of high-quality growth and defensive assets, designed to navigate short-term uncertainty with a long-term lens. We remain patient and deliberate, with our underlying managers actively using market pullbacks to selectively add to strong businesses and resilient sectors.
Short Term Portfolio
March saw a sharp uptick in market volatility, driven by persistent inflationary pressures, geopolitical developments, and tariff announcements, which heightened investor caution. Credit spreads widened, and yield curves steepened — classic signals of growing risk aversion as investors shifted toward defensive assets.
Despite these challenges, the portfolio’s property-secured credit strategy remained resilient, with the Short SMA delivering 0.34% return for the month. This performance was driven by consistent income from high-quality, asset-backed investments, including structured real estate and mortgage-secured debt, which provided stability amidst the turbulence.
Looking ahead, we remain focused and disciplined. There is no need to chase short-term market fluctuations or panic. The portfolio is well-positioned for steady income generation and capital preservation, with a sharp eye on opportunistic rebalancing when the right market conditions emerge. We’ll continue to hold steady, executing our strategy with patience and confidence.
Micro Cap Report
March was a tough month for smaller companies with a growth tilt both locally and abroad. We weren’t immune to this and did have a poorer relative month compared to the prior 24 months.
Equity market volatility was driven by several global factors. Markets had been positioned for strength in the US economy, but this sentiment shifted as President Trump’s tariff policies expanded more aggressively and unpredictably than expected. Additionally, Europe announced a $1 trillion EU stimulus package focused on defence and infrastructure, while China introduced further accommodative policies to stimulate its economy. For the first time since Trump’s election, markets began to consider whether his policies could push the US into recession, leading to a risk-off environment that also impacted Australian small-cap stocks.
Despite the volatility, we view this as an opportunity to enhance portfolio quality by investing further in high-quality companies at attractive valuations. These underlying investments remain well-positioned for long-term growth regardless of policy shifts domestically or internationally.
Forrest Private Wealth’s discipline in providing financial planning, retirement planning, and wealth management services to its clients allows our clients to benefit from years of experience providing financial advice through major impacts to equity markets where staying the course has helped them.
Forrest Private Wealth has a dedicated team of financial planners and support staff providing clients with peace of mind in working towards and achieving their life goals.