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 May
11, 2010 - Vol 4, Issue 19
Dear Reader,
Armed with textbooks and formulas, economists attack a problem by
drawing lines, forming equations and trying to fit data to the real
world. Niall Ferguson, a historian by training, thinks you
can learn more simply by analyzing what has already happened. So
what's a historian's take on the current crisis? Ferguson says it has
yet to run its course.
Steven Drobny is the co-founder of
Drobny Global, an international macroeconomic research and advisory
firm that counts many of the leading global hedge funds and money
managers as clients. He is also author of a recently released
book that identifies why some hedge funds made money in the 2008
crisis, while the majority did not. In this interview, he
discusses the common themes among successful strategies.
Michael
Lewitt provides us with the most recent issue of the HCM Market
Letter, where his discusses the implications of the Goldman Sachs
case. Lewitt says Goldman faces a terrible dilemma,
and should heed the lessons of the downfall of Drexel Burnham two
decades ago. Lewitt also comments on the private equity
industry, public pension funds, and bank capital requirements and the
ratings agencies. To subscribe directly to this
publication, go here.
MIT Sloan School senior finance lecturer Mark Kritzman thinks
he has found a warning signal to predict the onset of financial
crises in a new statistical model called the absorption ratio.
The absorption ratio predicts systemic risk by measuring how tightly
markets are coupled, and thus how vulnerable they are to the spread
of negative shocks.
More articles below...
Of all the assumptions that go into clients' retirement plans,
none has a bigger impact than the expected return on their
investments, says Dan Richards. That number determines how
much investors need to save, when they can afford to retire and the
kind of lifestyle they can anticipate. Richards provides a
context for discussing expected returns with clients.
In this guest contribution, Seth Hieken of The Colony Group says to expect
M&A transactions to accelerate over the course of the
year. If correct, there are several important guidelines
investors may wish to follow.
One of the best ways to build trust with your clients is to
consistently deliver clear, insightful investment communications. In
this guest contribution, consultant Ani Yessaillian tells you how to make
the most of your quarterly performance report and your off-cycle
investment communications.
Don't limit your involvement in professional associations to your own
profession, says Kristen Luke. To actively market your
business, spend more time with professional associations that
pertain to your prospective clients than for your own industry.
Have you ever noticed that it can be easier to write a 6,000-word
treatise than to come up with six perfect words, like, say,
"You're in good hands with Allstate®"? As Wendy Cook
writes, sometimes less is more - more frustrating, that is. How do
you say a lot with a little in corporate taglines?
Lastly, we highlight submissions to Advisor Market Commentaries.
We welcome guest submissions from our readers. For more
information, here are our guidelines.
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