Check out this investing video series on www.kroijer.com by Lars Kroijer, who used to run a hedge fund in London. Basically it says you can’t beat the market, and explain why that is important.
For investors from Australia the message is – “don’t invest in Australia. You already have plenty of domestic exposure”. As an example, if you buy Australian stocks for your investment portfolio, you are adding concentration risk as you are already exposed to the economy via your job, house, insurance, etc. Instead you should try to decrease the correlation and concentration risk in a portfolio by investing globally. That way you lower the risk of losing money on your domestic investments at the same time and for the same reason (decline in local economy) that you lose your job, job prospects, your house is worth less, potentially your education worth less, etc.