The past few years have been kind to investors. A glance over 2024 asset class returns suggests that most Australian investors have been sitting on healthy gains for the past 12 months, with the much-loved banks leading the charge. Global equity exposure will have sweetened returns, with the S&P 500 clocking up consecutive years of +20%. Even conservative investors have been rewarded with returns on cash, which is the best we've seen in decades.

It's in our nature to resist making changes to a winning formula. However, with market leadership being highly concentrated and, for the most part, coming from high-growth stocks, there's a decent chance that your portfolio has developed a few biases and overweight positions.

Why does this matter? Markets have repeatedly reminded us that good times don't last. Reviewing your portfolio and making tweaks or rebalances is prudent. This ensures you harvest some of those gains and position your portfolio for all market conditions.

Livewire's James Marlay spoke with Charlie Viola from Viola Private Wealth and Ben Clark from TMS Private Wealth to explore the factors they think matter for 2025, discuss how they are allocating capital for the year ahead, and to get some professional tips on rebalancing your portfolio.

Putting theory into practice, he also revealed his SMSF portfolio and asked our guests to share the changes they would make. To see the charts and tables referenced in the podcast are on this link: https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/how-to-invest-1-million-in-2025 Charts

Inflation

Earnings Yield

Aus vs US earnings Asset Allocation Tables