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Results 251–263 of 263 found.

A Smoother Ride for Target-date Funds
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 12/23/10
Asset allocation is a critical step in the asset management process. No matter how diversified the portfolio, risk and reward aren?t linear. But target-date funds tacitly assume they are! Just because you are willing to take more risk doesn?t preordain higher returns, even over decades-long stretches. Rather, managing risk should be done either explicitly with active asset allocation of the glide path or implicitly through the natural contra-trading embedded in the Fundamental Index approach.

The Glad Game
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 11/23/10
In a world of low-single digit yields, a conventional 60/40 asset mix will get pension funds just over halfway toward an expected 8% return. But investors should not wring their hands: there are ways of achieving their return expectations.

Hope is Not a Strategy
by John West of Research Affiliates, 10/26/10
Most pension funds and 401(k) calculators assume total returns in the 7-8 percent range. Is this assumption realistic, however, with a mature economy saddled with unprecedented debt levels and an aging workforce? This commentary examines retirement plan assumptions and calculates that we can reach this return level only if we assume top quartile results for stocks, bonds, and alternatives over the next 10 years. That's like expecting a decade of sunshine in the markets.

Are 401(K) Investors Fighting Yesterday's War?
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 9/27/10
It is time for investors and their advisors to look forward, not backward, in their 401(k) investment planning. Inflation is the biggest single enemy to long-term investors. A portfolio of real return assets balanced with a stock- and bond-heavy 401(k) fund menu is the best way to build a portfolio for an uncertain future. To do this, one needs to include inflation hedges before inflation strikes and when they are least costly.

Debt Be Not Proud
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 8/27/10
The looming sovereign debt crisis may be the defining influence on capital market returns over the next 10 years. Greece recently hit a wall and had to break a lot of promises to its citizens, including retirees and prospective retirees from government employment. Greece certainly won't be the last. An exploration of the relationship between sovereign debt levels and the economic might of debtor nations reveals a scary situation, particularly for investors who cap weight their government bond market exposure.

The Style Roulette and RAFI Strategy
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 7/26/10
The style merry-go-round (where value and growth are alternatively in favor) provides ample opportunity for investors to be their own worst enemy, even within the supposedly balanced broad market indexes. Make no mistake - cap-weighted index funds are stealthy returns chasers loading up on past winners. A simple periodic realignment back to financial size remarkably captures over 100 percent of a perfect style timing strategy in three major non-U.S. equity asset classes.

Too Big to Succeed
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 6/10/10
Can companies become 'too big to succeed?' When you're number one, you have a bright target painted on your back. Competitors are gunning for you. Governments and pundits are gunning for you. In a world that generally roots for the underdog, hardly anyone outside of your own enterprise is cheering for you to rise from world-beating success to still-loftier success. Indeed, past returns suggest that an investor could do rather well by investing in the Russell 1000, minus its 12 sector leaders, thus cancelling the corrosive influence of competitors, populists, and pundits.

An Emerging Conundrum
by John West of Research Affiliates, 5/20/10
Emerging economies have nearly doubled relative to the developed world since the mid-1990s. Despite this growth, however, emerging financial markets have performed relatively poorly over the long term as measured by the traditional indices. This gap between emerging market economic and stock market performance is a direct result of the return drag from capitalization weighting. Often, one, two, or at most a handful of stocks dominate local emerging markets. Not once have these large capitalization stocks collectively outperformed the rest of the market over a five-year period.

Fifty Years of Popularity Weighted Indexing
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 4/26/10
For all but a few, fame and favor is fleeting. This holds true for fashion and for stocks. The top of the capitalization index is filled with companies that are at the height of their popularity and, judging by the amount of fallen angels, due for a fall. By contrast, the fundamental index approach, which selects stocks based on economic scale rather than market capitalization, is immune to the way that popularity pushes select stocks' prices - and portfolio weights - into the stratosphere.

The Folly of Peer Group Analysis
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 3/19/10
The global financial crisis has led to a significant remake of the active manager opportunity set, but don?t let the ever-shifting sands of survivorship and backfill biased peer group returns fool you. Indexing is a smart bet. Importantly, if you want to be a ?survivor,? remember the biases of peer groups because what may look like a smart active manager ?alliance? could turn out to be a vote off the island of investment success?caveat emptor!

Lessons from the 'Naughties'
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 3/1/10
Sizeable real returns will be difficult in this decade, as they were in the last. Almost all asset classes are priced richly relative to historical norms. We can tilt the odds back in our favor, however, by tactically altering our portfolio risk based on measures as simple as yields and yield spreads. The surest path to success marries tactical asset allocation with a more efficient beta, such as the Fundamental Index methodology, and a full toolkit of alternative markets.

Discounts and Relative Performance
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 2/5/10
Arnott reviews the methodology behind fundamental indexing. Over the short term, fundamental indices take on much greater exposure in volatile markets to companies which underperformed relative to their economic size. This article explores the performance implications of the difference in relative valuation multiples.

Was it Really a Lost Decade?
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, 1/23/10
?In this issue we study this abysmal stretch of portfolio performance, both to glean long-term lessons for how we allocate assets and structure equity indexes and to consider whether the ?naughts? mig
Results 251–263 of 263 found.