This paper considers some of the key risks warranting board of directors' attention in the next year and proposes practical steps to take in response to political risk and the role of emerging economies, supply chain risk and business resiliency, capital investment and project-related risk, cyber risk, and compliance and regulatory risk.
Families of wealth need to work diligently to maintain online privacy to avoid having personal information go astray or be used against them. This includes discussing the appropriate level of privacy as a family, using network privacy settings, limiting personal information available online, and monitoring children's use of social networks.
Best-of-class medical care can be achieved only if all of a patient's caregivers work together across the continuum of care. It is important for patients to understand what should happen during the four key areas of care – case immersion, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-through – because research shows that mistakes occur most often when patients are entering or exiting these stages.
Not all master limited partnerships offer the same level of stability and predictably of current income or growth, and the impact when distributions are materially cut are catastrophic to investment values. Investors who are attracted to the core value proposition of MLPs – income and stability – will most likely benefit from taking a high-quality investment approach to building a portfolio.
Frontier markets are considered to be low-liquidity outsiders beyond developed and emerging markets. They offer the potential for strong long-term returns and diversification benefits at a reasonable level of volatility. However, they come with significant risks that need to be factored into an investment strategy.
While we believe the scale and scope of current market risks are not enough to topple the markets, we feel a correction of some magnitude is warranted given how a confluence of risk factors could adjust global growth expectations. As such, we are recommending a modestly more defensive posture despite seemingly attractive valuations.
An annual inventory of belongings in the home is vital as a safeguard, should loss occur. Yet many families ignore this need. Some inventory options include hiring a firm that specializes in this, going room by room with a movie camera, and keeping a photo log of items. Make sure fine art, jewelry and silver are scheduled on a personal property policy.
Indexed universal life insurance provides a crediting rate tied to the growth of an equity index. With the potential for an enhanced yield and a guaranteed minimum crediting rate, indexed universal life may be an attractive life insurance option, particularly in the current low interest rate environment.
Whole life and universal life insurance have been hit especially hard by continued low interest rates. As a result, carriers are introducing products that increasingly shift the risk of future product performance to the consumer. Because of these risks, consumers must make the effort to understand what is behind the assumptions presented by insurers.
The FTC is seeking input on this report, which proposes safeguards for data gathered online and offline from consumers. The three main areas addressed are privacy by design in all business practices, simplified privacy choice for consumers and greater transparency related to company data policies.