Overly optimistic Mercer’s Kylie Willment said the economic outlook was a major risk for investors, even though financial markets don’t seem particularly worried. “Markets [are] pricing in a benign outcome for the Australian economy,” she said. Australian Retirement Trust’s Ian Patrick echoed that view: “There is a reasonable probability of a so-called hard landing in major economies, which, if coupled with a financial crisis, could certainly see new lows,” he argued. “Markets may not be pricing in enough of a probability for that outcome,” he said. Mr Patrick estimates an acceptable total return of at least 8 per cent. Mercer...