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
After a turbulent start to the year, markets settled in May with volatility easing and global tensions easing somewhat. The sharp shifts in trade policy we saw earlier began to reverse, helping restore some confidence. Notably, the US significantly lowered tariffs on Chinese imports, while a short-lived increase in EU tariffs was also wound back.
Locally, the RBA cut interest rates by 0.25% at its May meeting, with a more positive tone than many expected. This has led markets to anticipate further rate cuts in 2025, which could support households and businesses if the economy softens. The federal election also resulted in a clear victory for the Labor government, which is expected to maintain strong fiscal support for growth.
For our Long Portfolio, May was a strong month. Every investment contributed positively, with underlying managers continuing to focus on high-quality businesses that are well-positioned for the long term. While uncertainty is never far away, we believe these kinds of market resets create opportunities — and we remain committed to managing through the noise with a long-term, fundamentals-based approach.
Short Term Portfolio
The Short SMA delivered another steady result in May, returning +0.55% for the month. This strategy isn’t designed to shoot the lights out — it’s built for consistency. To protect capital and generate stable income regardless of market noise. And in that respect, it continues to do its job well. The Short SMA remains a core defensive holding, doing exactly what it’s designed to do.
Micro Cap Report
Markets remained resilient in May, posting strong gains despite persistent geopolitical tensions.
In a widely expected move, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the cash rate to 3.85 per cent, providing additional support for the domestic economy.
Global markets also rallied, driven largely by a mid-month easing in U.S.-China trade tensions. The two nations agreed to reduce tariffs by a combined 115 percentage points for a 90-day period, lifting investor sentiment.
The Micro portfolio continues to be well positioned to capture upside from good quality growing companies.
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.