An MDA is an investment portfolio management service whereby you provide discretion to an investment manager to manage your portfolio on your behalf in accordance with your instructions, investment objectives and an agreed investment program. This mandate eliminates the need to constantly obtain your agreement or instructions to sell, buy, apply for, or redeem investments in financial products.

A pickup in business and investor confidence, and a hope that inflation and global economic activity might be recovering, drove pleasing performance from investment markets recently in many parts of the world, most particularly in real estate and shares.

John Keats, English poet, wrote of ‘Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness” in his Ode to Autumn. That season in Australia may not be quite as mild as in Europe but it can certainly be misty … and in more ways than one. Anything obscuring the investment landscape – mist, smoke, fog, or stormy weather – will induce uncertainty. Good investment outcomes require clarity on the road ahead … and here’s how you can get it