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Secondary investments in private equity can be an attractive addition to primary private equity investments. They offer broad diversification across vintage years, industries, geographies, managers and investment strategies. Generally, capital is deployed faster than with primary commitments, reducing the time that commitments are held in reserve, and they have shorter life cycles than primary funds.

A software consultant to financial services firms provides some food for thought about the extensive use of custom built Excel-based applications. The article touches on reasons why the use of Excel may be hurting your advisory firm or family office, reasons to review your existing Excel applications in use and whether you should consider other options.

Over the past few years, investors have been keenly drawn to strategies that promise to lower equity portfolio risk. This article examines one popular low-risk strategy, minimum variance, which optimizes a basket of stocks to deliver the lowest possible portfolio variance.

There is no perfect system or framework for investing, nor can any investor follow any system in a perfectly disciplined way. Goals-based investing, however, is a better approach than most in helping investors stick to their investment diet, reach their target and maintain their financial “weight” over time.

In the past 12 years, there have been two distinct economic and market environments. The first, a period of rampant borrowing, was fueled by a red-hot real estate market. The second, a period of deleveraging, saw a reversal of the debt buildup with household debt ratios declining through a combination of bank write-offs, debt repayment and income growth. It could be argued that much of the needed deleveraging has now been accomplished or, at minimum, that spending habits have changed enough to set the economic system on a path toward a more normal economic environment.

If the big picture includes ensuring a retirement income stream and passing assets to loved ones, it’s crucial to understand the effects of income and estate tax laws. Integrated, long-term planning is important and should be done well in advance.

The US Federal Reserve is beginning to talk about diminishing its quantitative easing program if signs of a sustainable economic growth path emerge.

The first half of 2013 was characterized by strength in the U.S. equity market, but also by rising volatility and struggles in a variety of other asset classes. For the second half of 2013, the authors expect an acceleration of growth in the United States, a slightly better economic tone in Europe and below-trend growth in most emerging economies.

The framework uses multiple dimensions of risk and return trade-offs to consider when building portfolios and evaluates the consequences of risk allocation decisions during normal and stressed markets.

This paper explores how private foundations can plan for changes in leadership in order to weather the transition as a cohesive, effective unit. Some of the risks and rewards of planning for change—or failing to do so—are discussed.