White Papers
Alternative Investments:
Why Alternative Investments- and Why Now?
Legendary investor David Swensen, former chief investment officer of the Yale Endowment, pioneered portfolio management by allocating significant portions- as much as 70-80 percent-of the endowment’s portfolio to alternative investments. He believed that…
Private Markets:
Asset Allocation & Portfolio Construction
Historically, large institutions and sophisticated family offices have allocated large portions of their portfolios to private markets; until recently, it has been difficult for many high-net-worth (HNW) investors to access private equity, private credit, and real assets. In recent years we have seen...
Goals-Based Investing:
Moving Beyond the 60/40 Portfolio
Over the past decade, many pundits have predicted the death of the 60/40 portfolio, when in fact it has worked well during a rising U.S. equity market. The naive 60/40 portfolio came into prominence as advisors looked to institutional allocations as a guide...
Wealth Management
The Future of Wealth Management
By 2030, at least 80 percent of advisors will offer goals-based advice, similar to your fitness monitor, tracking progress relative to various goals (investments, education, retirement, and wellness). It's easy to imagine that by 2030, investors will use wearable technology to track...
Modern Portfolio Theory
Is Modern Portfolio Theory Still Modern?
Modern portfolio theory (MPT) assumes that investors are risk averse, meaning that given two portfolios that offer the same expected return, investors will prefer the less risky portfolio. The implication is that a rational investor will not invest in a portfolio...
Private Equity
Innovation and Evolution
With the recent flurry of initial public offerings- including Uber, Lyft, Beyond Meat, and Pinterest, to name a few- many investors have turned their focus to private equity. Regardless of how these companies perform once they go public, their early investors...
Alternative Investments
A Goals-Based Framework
As an industry, we don't always make it easy for investors to understand the role of a particular type of investments. Consequently, we sometimes scare investors away from what they should be embracing. The term "alternative investments" is a good example of how...
Strategic Beta Strategies
Do They Work Outside Our Borders?
Strategic beta strategies, also known as "smart beta", or "alternative beta," have grown in popularity over the past several years. Advisors increasingly have used these strategies as replacements for active management. Much of the research on these strategies has...
