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Heritage Finance & Trust Company, Geneva, Switzerland, was founded in 1986 in Switzerland as a single family office providing financial advisory and portfolio management services. Over time, Heritage has evolved into a multifamily, multi-client office as it has seen demand for its services increase from an extended circle of family members and thei...

This paper examines the gap between the theory of portfolio construction and its practice. In particular, it analyzes some of the problems in the application of portfolio optimization techniques to individual investors and identifies ways to compensate for the theory's shortcomings.

In this issue of Eton’s Investment Outlook, the firm describes how Modern Portfolio Theory has ruled the financial seas for the past 60 years, its shortcomings, and why they view goals-based investing as a better framework.

The goals-based investing framework utilizes Abraham Maslow's “hierarchy of needs” approach by defining, quantifying and prioritizing financial goals across multiple family generations. The brilliance of this process is that it recognizes something very fundamental about our financial behavior: We assign different levels of priority to different go...

Understanding the exposures involved with direct private equity investing as well as the insurance solutions to address those exposures is essential when implementing a direct private equity investment strategy for family offices.

Each investor—whatever his or her background, experience or training—should employ a systematic protocol in the pursuit of growth and stability. An investment process should embody an investment philosophy. Grounded by best practices, this philosophy should stem from a set of beliefs that prescribe how to generate superior risk-adjusted returns in ...

Every investor knows about Yale University and the extraordinary success of its endowment portfolio. Indeed, many families have tried to emulate Yale’s approach to asset management, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, fewer people are aware of of the Norway Government Pension Fund. While there are certainly aspects of the Yale Model that are useful...

Emerging markets have been recognized for quite a while as a place where investors can earn greater returns than in developed economies due to higher economic growth, strong balance sheets and more attractive demographics. Although investing in emerging markets remains an area of opportunity for investors, navigating an emerging market economy is c...

This paper examines several factors impacting investors' commodities exposure and the current sentiment on downside risks.

This paper identifies four channels through which the shock of a Greek default could spread across the Eurozone and the global economy.

Market turmoil has brought the topic of Minimum Variance Portfolios (MVP) to the forefront. But examined within a broad U.S. universe alongside the closely related Low Volatility Portfolio (LVP) counterpart are investors who employ an MVP strategy appropriately compensated for the relative risk they assume?

The national economy is showing signs of life, state and local tax receipts are on the rise, local budgets are returning to balance. Nevertheless, Moody’s and S&P are downgrading more tax-supported credits than they are upgrading. On the surface such rating actions may seem incongruous with the economic conditions. But, in fact, they are all too pr...

With interest rates at historically low levels, fixed income investors have become increasingly concerned about rising rates and how their portfolios might be affected. However, rising rates do not necessarily mean negative total returns for fixed-income investments. This paper examines the factors that can affect interest rates, as well as how fix...

Of course, we’ve all heard the term “globalization.” It’s quickly become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary political and economic debates. Just as trade has been increasing and manufacturing has moved abroad, the capital markets have been “globalizing.” By expanding your fixed income investment horizon to include the world, you ...

This paper explores the concept of Volatility harvesting (using Volatility as an asset within your portfolio), or the extra growth generated from systematically diversifying and rebalancing.