Search Results

While little liquidity is making its way into the real economy, it is flowing into capital markets, leading to distorted prices and increasing risks to investors. Unfortunately, the longer accommodative central bank policies remain in place, the higher asset prices are likely to climb and the more investors will face an increasing risk of loss.

Traditional investment managers, looking for a way to boost returns and beat industry benchmarks, have begun to notice that many of the evaluation factors that socially responsible investment managers use also provide valuable insight into the overall financial health and performance of companies.

Emerging markets have been left behind during the bull run of 2013 as confidence in them has waned during a period of rising interest rates. Understanding the investment opportunity, however, requires a deep dive into the substantial structural differences between emerging markets and developed markets.

With interest rates at historic lows, investment strategies that worked in the past may be inadequate for the future. Although the prospects for traditional investments might seem impaired if rates reverse course, other sources of return may be available if one also considers managers versed in long/short investing across multiple asset classes.

While global investors have been curbing their home country biases, most remain too heavily invested in their local markets. The authors believe the lowest risk strategy to realize the global equity risk premium is through a market capitalization weighted approach, which eliminates the risk of overweighting a poor performing region.

Goals change over time, both in their definition and their priority. Financial markets also change over time, requiring investors to periodically revise their family goal matrix and re-examine their choice of ideal portfolios to fund family goals. Like all long-lasting marriages, flexibility is required to keep the investment portfolio in close com...

For the past 30 years, inflation has been a benign tiger. However, many signs point to its likely increase. And make no mistake – it can be a fearsome and stealthy force. Individuals can’t prevent inflation, but they can prepare for it, defend against it and, perhaps, profit from it.

Active investment management is best rewarded in less efficient asset classes. Dispersions of returns in relatively inefficient asset classes, such as private equity, opportunistic real estate and natural resources, are significantly wider than in traditional long-only asset classes, making the rewards for success far more meaningful.

When carried interest is transferred early in a fund’s life, it can have a very low value relative to its potential value at payout. It’s this payout potential that makes it an ideal asset to be used in estate tax-reduction planning, especially when used in combination with a grantor trust allowing for that appreciation to compound on a...

More frequent review and adjustment of asset allocation, incorporating opportunistic investing and employing flexible strategies, such as global asset allocation and global macro managers, enables investment programs to increase return and manage risk more effectively.

With greater frequency, investors are wondering whether, and when, the Federal Reserve’s extraordinary money printing will cause rampant inflation. A review of the past century provides interesting insights, particularly between 1933 and the late 1940s when the Federal Reserve printed money at comparable levels to those of the Bernanke Fed.

The authors review some best practices for building and managing a reinsurance portfolio, including what it takes to do effective sourcing of reinsurance business, thoughts on pricing and underwriting the book, what it means to optimize a reinsurance portfolio, and effective risk management practices.

Despite marked improvement, economic and market conditions have not returned to “normal.” Opinions differ, but perhaps normal is defined best by what is abnormal. By identifying and examining the issues that stand out as extraordinary, investors can understand how their reversion will impact economic growth and the markets.

As the deleveraging process unfolds, areas of particular interest for distressed funds exist not only in failed banks but also banks that will dispose of bad assets during the next several years. Distressed debt is not for the faint of heart. The intellect involved in mapping out such investment strategies takes a highly creative team of top pedigr...

This whitepaper examines the evolution and function of currency markets and examines the impact of currency risk on international asset portfolios. It goes on to explore how currency risk can be managed and describes currency solutions available to institutional investors.