

“Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again.” In times of financial stress, the market tends to take on a momentum all of its own. We may be in for further shocks, instabilities...
Tariffs done, but what ripple effects follow next?

Slowly melting ice cubes: How to survive the commoditisation of the asset management industry
“Phil, I’m a melting ice cube.” I was having lunch with a friend who holds a senior position at a large, dull asset manager. “Nothing works anymore. Nothing. Not on the portfolio side and not on the distribution side. We’ve been surviving on rising market price...
Slowly melting ice cubes: How to survive the commoditisation of the asset management industry

The stock market won’t save us
Sometimes reality bites back at Trump, but not always. During the 2024 campaign, the stock market typically reacted favourably to good polling news for Donald Trump, and it surged after he won. But since Trump took office, the stock market has been down quite a bit,...
The stock market won’t save us

Is real estate chaotic?
Some readers may be familiar with Liu Cixin’s award-winning 2008 science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem or its 2024 Netflix adaptation. Either version provides a fitting backdrop for today’s article For the uninitiated, the Three-Body Problem is a classical...
Is real estate chaotic?

The (contrarian) case for listed real estate
When I started in real estate more than 25 years ago, nobody was really interested in listed property. At that time, I was a real estate equity analyst at ABN AMRO (later with JP Morgan), but few investors were keen to talk to me… Why would anyone buy listed real...
The (contrarian) case for listed real estate