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...
The Senate Bill 54 (the “SB 54”) was signed into law in California and will take effect March 1, 2025 for all investments made during calendar year 2024. The law will require “covered entities” to report the demographic information of “founding team members” of all companies in which the covered entity has invested. The law is meant to address the ...
Sound money is the result when interest rates are above the rate of inflation, a development that is expected to persist in the years ahead. In the meantime, the transition to a higher interest rate environment has no doubt challenged investors, who have endured historical losses in bonds and high volatility in stocks. But make no mistake: This str...
Rising global rates, a strong U.S. dollar, and tightening liquidity conditions have weighed on sentiment in emerging markets (EMs). But EMs may be regaining their footing as easier monetary conditions could drive growth in 2024 for both equities and debt alike. Any recovery, however, is unlikely to be uniform. As a new cycle unfolds, we expect the ...
As private equity (PE) fund managers and portfolio companies look ahead in 2024, they anticipate a changing exit landscape, hurdles in meeting their investment theses, and ongoing talent obstacles. To meet the inevitable dealmaking challenges (and opportunities), there are 5 PE trends to keep in mind: (1) the ramifications of the U.S. presiden...
Seasoned investors know that you cannot predict the future of the markets. But smart private wealth managers know that the key to preserving and growing wealth is to anticipate critical trends that are likely to have a lasting impact. Where trends are concerned, 2024 has a lot brewing around the geopolitical conflicts, the explosion of artificial i...
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), designed to combat the use of shell companies for illicit purposes and increase ownership transparency in corporate structures, took effect on January 1, 2024. This update addresses how these CTA regulations will apply to corporate structures used in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions. In ...