Municipal bonds had a turbulent third quarter. But did the sharp rise in yields (and corresponding drop in prices) cause investors to overreact?
Selecting the right investment vehicle often receives less attention than the other more known investment principles such as the value of diversification. Broadly speaking, investors can access four types of investment vehicles—including separately managed accounts—to avert making a wrong decision that can saddle a family with unexpected taxes, inc...
How can investors navigate the turbulent waters of municipal-bond credit-risk spread? The answer may be: “Wait and see.”
The notable increase in consumer prices has sparked concerns around the effect of inflation on investor’s portfolios, wealth plans, and ability to fund goals. For investors, the best offense remains a good defense, and it is not too late to revisit your portfolio with an eye toward protection against the impact of inflation. We answer nine qu...
People care about ESG, want ESG outcomes and will make major decisions on where to invest, where to work, and what to buy based on those outcomes. So, when companies make claims about their ESG performance, it should be easy for stakeholders to verify those claims. But the reality is that ESG reporting is often opaque, subjective, and even outright...
Index investing has been a boon to investors seeking accessible, diversified portfolios. However, many index-based portfolios have become notably more concentrated in recent years, in terms of both individual stock positions and sector representation. Given this reality, it’s understandable why many investors are looking at other options to b...
U.S. inflation is at its highest in four decades due to COVID-19-induced spending on goods, supply-chain issues, fiscal stimulus from the government, and very accommodative monetary policy from the Federal Reserve. But unlike last time when inflation was high, some key drivers of the current inflation are expected to fade. However, several forces a...
Most of us are familiar with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the headline measure of inflation. However, at the January 2012 Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed declared it would use the Personal Consumption Expenditure price index (PCE). Since the indexes are calculated differently in weight, scope, and formula, it will yield different measur...
When it comes to investing with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns in mind, there’s the aim to help foster positive change in the world through the lens of one’s personal values. Since it can be hard to decipher the news about ESG investing, here is a breakdown of some frequent ESG misconceptions and answers that address four ques...
Because of losses in catastrophe-prone areas and other hard market factors, insurance carriers have pulled back the amount of insurance they’ll offer. Despite the hard market, real estate owners and operators that have well-maintained properties and who are prepared for catastrophes will have an advantage. Overall, the formula for a better insuranc...
A dynamic portfolio can help address a number of investment challenges that families of wealth face, including varying multigenerational preferences, unique tax considerations, domicile requirements, and specific beneficiary needs. Yet there is also such a thing as overcomplexity, which can waste time, cause confusion, decrease potential returns, a...
Consistently revisiting potential liquidity risk is important work for family investors, as many of these risks can lay silent for prolonged periods and become easy to overlook. In fact, unexpected liquidity demands can undo a lot of hard work and, in a worst-case scenario, force a fire sale of assets. By carrying out regular liquidity risk analyse...
For the wealth owners—and the family offices managing their assets—the opportunities that impact investing presents are arguably greater than for any other type of investor. While impact investing is a natural fit for family offices, most are still working out where to start—mulling over issues like how to source deals and measure impacts. In order...
For leaders of founder-owned companies, simply making the decision to sell or bring in an outside investor can be anxiety inducing. The transaction process itself is often filled with apprehensive moments—arguably none more so than the potential of sensitive information leaking. This primer helps business owners understand how to avoid leaks, how t...
Creating portfolios that are customized to a family’s unique investment goals and risk tolerance requires ingenuity and flexible thinking. However, the execution of risk management should be more systematic. Ultimately, the effective investors employ a risk management framework that accounts for potential risk at every stage of the investment proce...