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. The authors examine the underlying factor exposure...
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.
This article discusses the different roles an investment consultant plays in providing services to your foundation:Investment Partner Fidicuary Advisor Educator Administrator, andPhilanthropic SupporterA checklist of questions to ask a prospective investment consultant is provided.
As part of the "10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your Foundation" series, four approaches to impact investing are discussed:Community InvestingSocially Responsible InvestingProgram-Related InvestingSocial Venture Capital Investing
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, ...
The authors discuss the Risk Parity approach to investing - equalizing risk by allocating funds to a wider range of categories such as stocks, government bonds, credit-related securities and inflation hedges (including real assets, commodities, real estate and inflation-protected bonds) while maximizing gains through financial leveraging. The...
This article explores the questions and options that should be examined in designing an optimal investment program for a Generation Skipping Trust (GST). The GST is treated as a separate client from the donor to ensure the investment policy is appropriate for its specific needs. Review questions include:What is the Trust’s Perspect...
The authors discuss Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) - what purpose they serve, why demand for ETFs has grown, and the author's position on the use of these products. Also covered are how ETFs have evolved in recent years, examination of their risks and consideration of some unintended consequences that may result from their design that have ...
Rapid expansion across the emerging markets is perhaps the most important development for the Private Equity industry. Interest in Africa has never been higher and it continues to see strong interest from investors. Fundraising trended higher in 2014, and the value of transactions nearly doubled during the year. Private Equity's impact in the r...
This specialist white paper provides detailed insight into the current credit markets, and an international view of mid-market Mergers and Acquisitions deal activity and developments on a per country basis from 2014 to Q1 2015.
The phrase “private equity liquidity” once felt like an oxymoron, but the picture is rapidly changing.Liquidity has traditionally meant something very different for private equity than it has for other types of investments. While investors in other vehicles could trade their positions quarterly, monthly, or daily, those in closed-end pr...
Every battle is won before it’s fought,Sun Tzu wrote in “The Art of War.” As the legendary Chinese military strategist observed more than 2,500 years ago, understanding the terrain in which a battle will be waged is critical for those who want to prevail That’s as true for 21st century investment managers as it has been for ...
At a Daily Journal annual meeting in Los Angeles earlier this year, Charlie Munger – the 91-yearold Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway – shared his opinion on the investment landscape when asked about negative interest rates in Europe and persistently low rates in the United States:"This has basically never happened before in my w...
There are two reasons for including hedge funds in a traditional asset portfolio. First, their betas with respect to the S&P 500 are often substantially less than unity, which makes them attractive diversifiers. Second, they may provide an additional source of return and risk after adjusting for their exposure to the U.S. equity market, which h...
Trusts have gained enormous popularity over the last 20 years. The top 1 percent of the wealthy have 38 percent of their investment assets in trusts, and the next 4 percent have 43 percent of their investment assets in trusts.1 This powerful trend is largely due to the fact that the modern trust can provide a family not only with powerful tax and a...