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Research has shown that demographic trends have important relationships with many economic variables. As a nation’s population ages, the balance of capital tends to shift from debtors to creditors. The supporting data behind the phenomenon and other initial baseline assumptions outlines our capital market return forecasts for approximately 50...

Despite historically low interest rates and increasingly favorable economic conditions, inflation has remained persistently below the Fed’s 2% target for nearly six years. While stubbornly low inflation would have been cause for alarm in the past, few seem to be worried. With other economic indicators headed in a positive direction, the Fed h...

There are currently more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies with a combined market capitalization of over $400 billion dollars. In the grand scheme of things, they represent a relatively small portion of the global economy. However, these alternative, digital currencies continue to generate a significant amount of buzz among curious investors. As an inves...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is here to stay and its provisions change the landscape of the private equity world going forward. The decrease in corporate rates coupled with new net operating loss limitations, corporate alternative minimum tax repeal, and accelerated expenditures will directly impact how the value and price modeling of deals are...

Detailed analyses and quantitative rigor go into every sound investment decision. To make matters more challenging, we are constantly battling our instincts, which can pull us in conflicting directions and get in the way of sound investment discipline. To this end, we must find an equitable balance between the fear that tugs at us when markets are ...

Operational improvements are a key lever for achieving value creation after a deal closes. There are three critical ways private equity firms can both protect and grow value through operations. One way is to lead differently, beginning with recognizing that the due diligence process can cause employees to be apprehensive. When leaders understand an...

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly affects the ability of the managers of investment funds to receive long-term capital gains with respect to their carried interest. Under current law, the manager of an investment fund can receive a “profits interest” (also known as a “carried interest” or a “promoted interes...

The 13th edition of the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report, undertaken with Marsh & McLennan Companies, examines the evolving macro-level risk landscape and highlights the systematic threats that may disrupt expectations. A more rigorous exploration of potential sources of value destruction, greater strategic agility to match a rapi...

What will the world look like in 2040 if vital natural resources become scarce? What would stimulate a shift from the current linear “Take-Make-Dispose” consumption model that relies on the availability of abundant natural resources, to a circular economy based on the principle of “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle”? Recent research exam...

The set of factors and circumstances which together produced 2017's robust investment returns might be described as a "Goldilocks" scenario, one in which the positive forces pressing on the global economy and financial markets were warming noticeably, but not so hot already as to prompt dramatic cooling efforts from central bankers. A...

From news out of Washington, to improving global growth and strong corporate profits, a number of factors could shape the markets in 2018, including the impact of the recent Tax Reform Bill may have on your portfolio. Christopher Hyzy, Chief Investment Officer for Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management, provides important insight...

When looking beyond the short-term demand factors, there are several long-term secular themes that are positive for specialty assets. Most notably among them, growing populations, increasing spending power of the emerging market middle class, and rising urbanization. Since real assets (farmland, timberland, commercial real estate, and energy relate...

In 2017, investors experienced the best of all possible worlds—uncommon synchronized global growth, strong acceleration in corporate earnings and continuing unprecedented monetary support—that fueled capital market appreciation across the globe. However, investors face a looming milestone in 2018, as they approach Peak Central Bank. The...

There is great responsibility when serving the ultra-high net worth clients, especially those who are concerned about preserving a family legacy and the successful transfer of their wealth and/or business. In this issue of Family Wealth Advisors Insights, three areas of concerns are addressed for the advisors and their families: maximizing their fo...

U.S. economic momentum, already positive, will increase further due to the tax package. Interest rates are likely to rise throughout the year posing a headwind for longer duration core bonds. Equity valuations are underpinned by the interest rate and macro environment, but continued increases would become more concerning if inflation makes a comeba...