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
March continued what has been a stellar run for the Long account with strong market performance and no negative contributors in the portfolio. In the current environment it’s wise to remain cautious with the ever-present geopolitical risks however it’s reassuring that the fundamentals driving the strong performance have been and continue to be, sound.
Short Term Portfolio
The trajectory of inflation will play a significant role in shaping market trends throughout the remainder of 2024. While inflation remains above central bank targets in many regions, it’s showing signs of decline. If these trends continue, central banks in the US and Europe might find sufficient reason to cautiously lower interest rates in 2024.
The most recent monthly inflation data, along with a gradual softening in the labour market, has prompted the RBA to describe the outlook as more balanced here in Australia. However, money market projections suggest that the first rate cut in Australia is unlikely before November.
In our assessment, the timing of the first rate cuts in major markets is unlikely to have a significant impact on fixed income returns. A more critical factor is when monetary policy reaches a neutral level and its resultant flow on affect to markets assuming current trends in the economy and inflation persist.
Micro Cap Portfolio
Momentum in March from the recent reporting season capped off a very strong first quarter in 2024 for markets both domestically and abroad. The tech sector was the leader for the quarter globally. The Micro portfolio has a bias towards tech presently and benefited from the global lift delivering a 7.27% return for the quarter making up considerable ground on it’s benchmark.
Looking ahead, the combination of disinflation and positive economic growth should prove supportive for equity markets globally. History tells us that the combination of those two macroeconomic conditions has proven particularly helpful for the share price performance of innovative companies and those with pricing power.
The managers we employ in the Micro portfolio are predominantly invested in companies that are higher quality, having attractive growth potential, have pricing power or some combination of those characteristics. We believe this will provide the best opportunity to perform well in current conditions.
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.