If I had a time machine, 1972 isn’t the destination I would choose for Britain — not with so much inflation, strike action and strife just around the corner.
Advisors seek to be incomparable, or better than the competition. But this marketing tactic creates a neck-and-neck race that they can’t win. Instead of being incomparable, choose to be uncomparable.
Personal Income (excluding Transfer Receipts) in May rose 0.69% and is up 8.3% year-over-year. However, when adjusted for inflation using the BEA's PCE Price Index, Real Personal Income (excluding Transfer Receipts) MoM was up 0.10%. The real number is up 1.8% year-over-year.
Amazon.com Inc. is nearing a deal to broadcast Europe’s top football tournament in the UK for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter, as the tech giant pushes deeper into sports.
In April of this year, the FlexShares team at Northern Trust conducted a survey of more than 500 high-net worth investors who work with financial advisors. The survey asked investors a range of questions about ESG investing including, but not limited to: how much they understand it, why they are or aren’t interested, whether their advisors are recommending it, and how and where they’re learning about ESG investing. My guest today will explain how she and her team used the data to identify trends across different generations, genders, and wealth brackets when it comes to ESG investing.
Someone once said, “Better than being smart is knowing who is!”
Here are three lessons about the cognitive biases advisors need to be aware of as the trusted protectors of their clients’ financial futures.
To celebrate Pride Month, four PIMCO executives share their perspectives on inclusion and diversity in the workplace and the importance of visible representation.
Pipe down for a second Elon, the hottest things in the auto industry — the most electric electrics — now come from Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp.
Latin America tilted further left this week as Colombian voters elected Gustavo Petro as president. Come August, the former Bogotá mayor and member of the M-19 guerrilla organization will join the region’s growing list of leftist leaders in a political shift some are likening to the “pink tide” of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
It may be a cliché, but the phrase “don’t fight the Fed” worked well for investors during the long period when the US central bank was suppressing interest rates and seeking to boost asset prices. This year, not so much.
Investors in China can positively influence the behavior of Chinese companies and generate attractive risk-adjusted returns in the long run.
When Putin started the war, he tried to shift the blame to NATO, calling it the instigator. He argued that Russia had no choice but to defensively launch the war to prevent NATO from surrounding Russia from all sides. A few days ago, Putin finally lifted his veil of pretense: this is a war of conquest.
In this video I cover 20 stocks requested by subscribers.
Bonds have been whispering in the ears of stock investors all year. Now they’re starting to shout.
Lifetime income solutions are high on the wish lists of defined contribution (DC) plan participants, with the certainty of a guaranteed lifetime income stream ranking as the top feature in our surveys over the past decade.
The terminology ‘Frontier Markets’ inspires images of exotic geographies, colourful politics and investor adventurism.
US builders completed more apartments in large multi-unit buildings than ever before.
Electric-vehicle prices are going up at a dizzying pace these days.
The yellow metal has managed to stay positive since the start of the year, skirting pressure from surging yields and a strong U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, nearly every other asset class has fallen into either correction or bear market territory.
The one speed bump advisors keep tripping over is that, well, people are funny about their money.
Month-over-month nominal sales in April were up 0.90% and up 8.19% YoY. Real Retail Sales, calculated with the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index, increased by 0.57% and were down 0.04% YoY.
A vague tweet by a founder of Three Arrows Capital, an influential hedge fund that has been liquidating crypto holdings as prices plummeted, is stirring fresh apprehension in an already shaken industry.
I can smell the beach, sunscreen and hot dogs.
Mistakes are easy to make but are easier to avoid if you know what a “bad” succession plan looks like.
Persistent … or transitory? It’s the inflation question that has been weighing on financial markets over the last year. As each economic data point trickles out, it is analyzed and re-analyzed, with that focus in mind. But it may be the wrong question to ask.
What will be the Fed's next steps after a rapid course correction?
Sedans are a rarity and electrics even more so. That’s even as pump prices are surging.
It started with bonds. Now even collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) come in green.
Elon Musk formally and forcefully revived his assertion that Twitter Inc. has a serious bot problem, and threatened to walk away from his deal to buy the company if the social network doesn’t do more to prove its users are real people.
Howard Marks’s latest memo explores recurring investment themes to contextualize the current market correction and the bull market that preceded it. He discusses the role played by financial innovations like SPACs and cryptocurrencies and why he believes psychology, not fundamentals, primarily drives investment cycles – and likely always will.
My staff told me that we have “become totally focused on AUM and fees. It isn’t a nice place to work anymore.”
We have a very precise methodology for dissecting the world’s equity markets.
In January Goldman Sachs projected that the FOMC would increase the federal funds rate at every other meeting (each meeting is 6 weeks apart) starting with the March meeting.
We strongly believe that the traditional benchmark-led approach to investing in emerging market debt can be far from optimal.
We’re here to talk about misconceived notions that advisors have about millennial investors. While it is often reported that millennials are rejecting financial advisors, my guest says this is not the case. The biggest issue that he sees is that financial advisors have minimums that make it difficult to serve millennials at the tail-end of the age bracket (those born between 1990-1996, or age 26 to 32). That cohort typically has not accumulated enough money to meet the minimum requirement needed to work with fee-based advisors.
We are now about five months away from the mid-term elections that will decide who controls the Senate and House of Representatives for the next two years.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned that retail investors are being duped by “greenwashing.”
Despite the massive selloff in equities this year and persistently high inflation, Dawn Fitzpatrick isn’t worried about a recession in the immediate future.
Being immobilized in grief can be deeply painful and damaging emotionally. It can be financially damaging, as well, limiting a person’s ability to make sound financial decisions that can affect their future. This is where objective help and support is essential.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is taking its biggest step yet to stop money managers from misleading investors when they claim their funds are focused on environmental, social or governance issues.
There is increasing awareness among investors of the important role that responsible investing plays in a well-diversified portfolio.
The price of foods, fuels and other essential items are spiraling ever upward as Russia’s war on Ukraine compounds supply-chain woes stemming from the pandemic. Central banks may be in the driving seat when it comes to tackling inflation, but it’s governments that face the fallout and so are compelled to act.
There’s no escaping the Federal Reserve (Fed) when it comes to investing these days.
As with bodily atherosclerosis, curing our economic condition may require lifestyle modifications. But in one sense, it will be even worse: We’re all going to get the cure whether we want it or not. We’ll get its side effects, too… and you can bet there will be many.
Since the global financial crisis, assets in private credit have grown exponentially as investors search for yield while protecting against inflation and rising interest rates.
Tesla has grown into a $735 billion company on the back of its breakthrough electric-vehicle engineering. Its own carbon footprint is a small fraction of its peers, and its success in the market has pushed the industry overall away from gas-powered vehicles.
John Paul Lech, Lead Manager of the Matthews Emerging Markets Equity Fund, explains the potential value that unique real estate equities can offer emerging market-growth portfolios.
Plan for long-term Inflation that will be fought aggressively by the Fed, higher policy rates, and slower economic growth, according to Raghuram Rajan.
This article explores the benefits of annuities with lower explicit fees, a category I dubbed as “annuities Lite” in a previous article that focused on GLWBs.
Take a look at real (inflation-adjusted) charts of the S&P 500, Dow 30, and Nasdaq Composite since 2000. We've updated this through the April 29, 2022 close.
In our latest insight, we analyze the recent DALBAR study to determine how well (or not well) active fixed-income investors performed during the bull market and explain what we believe will be the best approach for fixed-income investing given the start of a pro-inflation paradigm shift.
Modern slavery is a lucrative business that can’t exist without the financial system.
When Aoifinn Devitt created The Fiftyfaces Podcast in 2020, she wanted to showcase the diversity of the world’s investors by telling their stories. Now, she tells Hugo her own story—from her start as a lawyer to her current role as the first female chief investment officer at Moneta, an investment advisor with $27 billion of assets under management. In this wide-ranging discussion, Aoifinn explains how the Russia-Ukraine conflict could change how we think about ESG, whether we’re in a new investing regime, and what she’s learned from podcasting.
Unless RIAs modify their communications strategies, the failure to address the need for retirement income communications will be felt for years.
The major market indices finished mixed this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.63%. The S&P 500 Stock Index rose 0.40%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.02%. The Russell 2000 small capitalization index lost 0.28% this week.
Investor interest and participation in private markets continues to grow.
The ocean shipping industry, among the world’s biggest polluters, is asking a key regulator to overhaul its emissions directives so that all carriers are working off the same rulebook as they make the expensive changes needed to cut output of harmful carbons.
The Milken Institute Global Conference continues in Beverly Hills, California, bringing together investors, dealmakers, power brokers and celebrities to discuss markets and megatrends. Academics, sports stars, entrepreneurs and politicians among the thousands coming to the Beverly Hilton for the event, which runs through Wednesday.
Here is the just released our 2022 T3/Inside Information Software Survey. It ranks, by market share, the leading software solutions in advisory-firm tech stacks in 35 different categories.
Forward-thinking advisors have been searching for and employing analytics very carefully. This series will explore some of these metrics, along with their benefits and pitfalls. Today’s topic is capital markets assumptions.
The Fed messed up. Big time. After almost 40 years of low, predictable price growth, inflation is back: 8.5% at last count and it may go higher still. Some of the inflation is related to pandemic re-opening, but some of it came from serious policy errors. Now the Federal Reserve faces some hard choices. It may even need to cause a recession to bring inflation back to manageable levels.
Firms often consider launching multiple niches rather than focusing on just one. Though sometimes successful, this approach can dissipate your marketing efforts. This article offers guidelines to determine whether having multiple niches is for you.
Since the global financial crisis, assets in private credit have grown exponentially as investors search for yield while protecting against inflation and rising interest rates. Once a small corner of the investment universe, private credit has boomed into a major asset class that does not show signs of slowing. Over the 2010-2020 period, assets grew by 12.8% annually. However, not all private credit is created equal. My guests today will explain how the private credit landscape is quite diverse relative to its publicly traded counterpart, and investors should take time to fully understand the differences within the space.
With the world economy still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and now dealing with the Ukraine-Russia crisis, markets face a great deal of uncertainty.
The world’s richest person proved the naysayers, including himself, wrong Monday when he clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc. for about $44 billion, using one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals in history to take private a 16-year-old social networking platform that has become a hub of public discourse and a flashpoint in the debate over online free speech.
We know the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the U.S. workforce forever. What we don’t know for sure is how the changes will play out. Some are accelerations of trends that began around the time of the financial crisis in 2008 or earlier, while others were directly inspired by the pandemic. Still others were temporary dislocations that will revert. But it’s anyone’s guess which changes are which.
If you haven’t noticed—perhaps because you live on Mars—inflation is here. Not just in the US but almost everywhere. Prices for everyday goods and services, including necessities like food, are climbing rapidly. The US Consumer Price Index rose 8.5% in the 12 months through March… and we know it understates categories like housing.
Jerome Powell wants to quell inflation without sinking the labor market. Success or failure will be a defining part of the Federal Reserve chair’s legacy and the pro-employment policy he’s championed.
Twitter Inc., which is trying to defend itself against Elon Musk’s $43 billion takeover bid, has a poison pill in place, so the next obvious move on the hostile M&A to-do list is likely already being contemplated: a white knight.
In this article, I will explain how to structure an income strategy that best serves the needs of constrained investors. Demographic, economic, cultural, and social forces argue for a new approach to retirement planning.
Moving forward beyond the pandemic of 2020, the theme the world woke up to is that people want more…more home, more land, more entertainment, more goods.
The war in Ukraine has contributed to inflation in the short term, but there’s much more to the story, which began way before Russia invaded its neighbor.
China’s currency, the renminbi (RMB), remains strong even though many of the factors that have driven its performance over the last two years have weakened.
This article discusses how to build a prospect list, from generating leads to getting potential clients to meet with you.
ICYMI: In this roundup, we’re highlighting the five most popular pieces of content from the previous week.
People tend to associate environmental, social and governance investing with stock-picking, a way to sort through companies based on their ESG practices. But not every investor can be choosy about the companies they own. Big pension, endowment and sovereign wealth funds oversee tens of billions and even trillions of dollars, which means they have to own practically everything.
There is a genre of investment research that continuously predicts economic disaster that I call “macro doom.” It has become very popular. It seems that everyone is an expert in macroeconomics today, and they’re all predicting a bust of some kind.
I hope the discomfort and pain you experience reading this piece are but a small fraction of what I experienced writing it. I keep reminding myself that most of our problems today are first-world problems that are generally trivial and insignificant compared to what people in Ukraine are going through.
Because 529 plans are exempt from SEC oversight, they can charge higher fees and use that revenue in ways that do not benefit plan participants. New research shows some states are guilty of this abuse.
Most Americans say the most important problem facing the country is inflation — and President Joe Biden just made it worse. His administration announced last week it would extend yet again the emergency suspension of student loan repayments, even as his frenemies on the left are urging a program of complete forgiveness of all student debt.
An estimated 30,000 people attended this week’s Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, which is rapidly becoming a major global crypto-finance hub.
A “soft landing” scenario is not so straightforward in the current context. We have emphasized companies that we believe have pricing power because of the mission-critical or value-add nature of their products and services.
With many major market forces still to be determined, it is likely that 2022 will be characterized by transitions. One such transition, a rising rate environment, has historically resulted in the underperformance of traditional fixed income. As rates increase, fixed income exposures typically fall short, leaving investors with the need to reevaluate and consider alternative solutions to enhance their current allocations. Emerging markets debt, investment grade floating rate notes and business development companies (BDCs) may provide investors with alternative yield options while also offering liquidity, credit and quality.
Given that (1) investors have benefitted from a market environment that reliably produced a source of positive returns from a 60/40 mix, and (2) we’ve just completed the best period for that mix in nearly 70 years of tracking, why would an investor want to consider a change?
The value of bonds directly owned by households fell by $18 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, dropping to the lowest level since 2008, according to Federal Reserve data. Instead, those buyers are moving toward mutual funds and exchange traded funds, which have roughly doubled their muni holdings over the last decade.
As a solar panel was raised onto the roof of their mud-brick home in a Tanzanian village in sight of Mount Kilimanjaro, Akida Saidi and his wife felt giddy at the prospect of entering a new era. In a place where most residents make do with pit latrines instead of toilets and till their fields of maize and pigeon peas with hoes, suddenly having electricity would catapult them into the 21st century.
Europeans enduring an unseasonal April cold snap may be forgiven for thinking winter is back. But for the natural gas market, summer has arrived. April 1 marked the start of a new year in the energy calendar, moving the focus to injecting enough gas into storage during the coming low-demand months in preparation for next winter. It’s a race Europe cannot afford to lose, but one it will struggle to win following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Diverse opportunities in Global Convertibles, as well as structural features, provide tailwinds to counter rising rates and equity volatility. In rising rate environments, convertibles have historically done quite well relative to longer-duration traditional fixed income investments.
As clients clamor to invest in Environmental, Social, Governance, or ESG funds, advisors need to separate the truth from the tsunami of “greenwashing” that has clouded this rapidly-growing investment segment.
Diversity & Inclusion
Brexit Has the UK Traveling the Wrong Way in Time
If I had a time machine, 1972 isn’t the destination I would choose for Britain — not with so much inflation, strike action and strife just around the corner.
Incomparable or Uncomparable, Which are You?
Advisors seek to be incomparable, or better than the competition. But this marketing tactic creates a neck-and-neck race that they can’t win. Instead of being incomparable, choose to be uncomparable.
The Big Four: Real Personal Income in May
Personal Income (excluding Transfer Receipts) in May rose 0.69% and is up 8.3% year-over-year. However, when adjusted for inflation using the BEA's PCE Price Index, Real Personal Income (excluding Transfer Receipts) MoM was up 0.10%. The real number is up 1.8% year-over-year.
Amazon to Boost Football Coverage in UK With UEFA Deal
Amazon.com Inc. is nearing a deal to broadcast Europe’s top football tournament in the UK for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter, as the tech giant pushes deeper into sports.
What HNW Investors are Saying About ESG
In April of this year, the FlexShares team at Northern Trust conducted a survey of more than 500 high-net worth investors who work with financial advisors. The survey asked investors a range of questions about ESG investing including, but not limited to: how much they understand it, why they are or aren’t interested, whether their advisors are recommending it, and how and where they’re learning about ESG investing. My guest today will explain how she and her team used the data to identify trends across different generations, genders, and wealth brackets when it comes to ESG investing.
Buffett, Jones and Hamm: An Oil Wisdom Trifecta
Someone once said, “Better than being smart is knowing who is!”
Three Lessons About Cognitive Biases
Here are three lessons about the cognitive biases advisors need to be aware of as the trusted protectors of their clients’ financial futures.
Power of Representation: the 'Us'es'
To celebrate Pride Month, four PIMCO executives share their perspectives on inclusion and diversity in the workplace and the importance of visible representation.
Sorry Elon Musk. Hyundai Is Quietly Dominating the EV Race
Pipe down for a second Elon, the hottest things in the auto industry — the most electric electrics — now come from Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp.
A New “Pink Tide” in Latin America?
Latin America tilted further left this week as Colombian voters elected Gustavo Petro as president. Come August, the former Bogotá mayor and member of the M-19 guerrilla organization will join the region’s growing list of leftist leaders in a political shift some are likening to the “pink tide” of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Bond Traders Are Reading the Federal Reserve Wrong Again
It may be a cliché, but the phrase “don’t fight the Fed” worked well for investors during the long period when the US central bank was suppressing interest rates and seeking to boost asset prices. This year, not so much.
How to Invest in China Responsibly
Investors in China can positively influence the behavior of Chinese companies and generate attractive risk-adjusted returns in the long run.
Putin’s Mask is Off. Europe is Next
When Putin started the war, he tried to shift the blame to NATO, calling it the instigator. He argued that Russia had no choice but to defensively launch the war to prevent NATO from surrounding Russia from all sides. A few days ago, Putin finally lifted his veil of pretense: this is a war of conquest.
20 Stocks Subscribers Asked To Have Analyzed
In this video I cover 20 stocks requested by subscribers.
Stocks Are Losing the Race With Bonds in Era of Tightening Fed
Bonds have been whispering in the ears of stock investors all year. Now they’re starting to shout.
Lifetime Income Fees vs. Costs: Look Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg
Lifetime income solutions are high on the wish lists of defined contribution (DC) plan participants, with the certainty of a guaranteed lifetime income stream ranking as the top feature in our surveys over the past decade.
An Established Case and Emerging Trends for Frontier Markets Equity Investing
The terminology ‘Frontier Markets’ inspires images of exotic geographies, colourful politics and investor adventurism.
Big, Boxy Apartment Buildings Are Multiplying Faster Than Ever
US builders completed more apartments in large multi-unit buildings than ever before.
Inflation Turns EVs Into Luxury Items, Threatening Broader Electric Shift
Electric-vehicle prices are going up at a dizzying pace these days.
Gold Has Been One of the Few Bright Spots in 2022 (So Far)
The yellow metal has managed to stay positive since the start of the year, skirting pressure from surging yields and a strong U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, nearly every other asset class has fallen into either correction or bear market territory.
Dr. Cole Cash and the Next Generation
The one speed bump advisors keep tripping over is that, well, people are funny about their money.
The Big Four: May Real Retail Sales Down 1.2%
Month-over-month nominal sales in April were up 0.90% and up 8.19% YoY. Real Retail Sales, calculated with the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index, increased by 0.57% and were down 0.04% YoY.
Crypto Hedge Fund’s Ominous Tweet Is Latest Shock to Market
A vague tweet by a founder of Three Arrows Capital, an influential hedge fund that has been liquidating crypto holdings as prices plummeted, is stirring fresh apprehension in an already shaken industry.
Summer Savvy Ways to Stay Visible
I can smell the beach, sunscreen and hot dogs.
Five Signs You Have a Lousy Succession Plan
Mistakes are easy to make but are easier to avoid if you know what a “bad” succession plan looks like.
Inflation Risk: Persistent or Transitory is the Wrong Question
Persistent … or transitory? It’s the inflation question that has been weighing on financial markets over the last year. As each economic data point trickles out, it is analyzed and re-analyzed, with that focus in mind. But it may be the wrong question to ask.
FOMC Preview
What will be the Fed's next steps after a rapid course correction?
That Chevy Feels A Lot Better Than a Tesla Right Now
Sedans are a rarity and electrics even more so. That’s even as pump prices are surging.
Does This CDO Come in Green? With ESG Everywhere, Buyers Beware
It started with bonds. Now even collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) come in green.
Musk’s ‘Buyer’s Remorse’ Won’t Get Him Out of Twitter Deal
Elon Musk formally and forcefully revived his assertion that Twitter Inc. has a serious bot problem, and threatened to walk away from his deal to buy the company if the social network doesn’t do more to prove its users are real people.
Bull Market Rhymes
Howard Marks’s latest memo explores recurring investment themes to contextualize the current market correction and the bull market that preceded it. He discusses the role played by financial innovations like SPACs and cryptocurrencies and why he believes psychology, not fundamentals, primarily drives investment cycles – and likely always will.
Are We Too Focused on Making Money?
My staff told me that we have “become totally focused on AUM and fees. It isn’t a nice place to work anymore.”
Tour of the Global Equity Markets
We have a very precise methodology for dissecting the world’s equity markets.
FOMC Inflation Test Coming
In January Goldman Sachs projected that the FOMC would increase the federal funds rate at every other meeting (each meeting is 6 weeks apart) starting with the March meeting.
No Stone Unturned
We strongly believe that the traditional benchmark-led approach to investing in emerging market debt can be far from optimal.
The Hidden Opportunity to Serve Millennial Clients
We’re here to talk about misconceived notions that advisors have about millennial investors. While it is often reported that millennials are rejecting financial advisors, my guest says this is not the case. The biggest issue that he sees is that financial advisors have minimums that make it difficult to serve millennials at the tail-end of the age bracket (those born between 1990-1996, or age 26 to 32). That cohort typically has not accumulated enough money to meet the minimum requirement needed to work with fee-based advisors.
The Outlook for November
We are now about five months away from the mid-term elections that will decide who controls the Senate and House of Representatives for the next two years.
SEC Proposals for ESG Ignore 80 Years of Financial Science
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned that retail investors are being duped by “greenwashing.”
Soros’s Money Manager Warns Recession ‘Inevitable’ But Market Timing Is Off
Despite the massive selloff in equities this year and persistently high inflation, Dawn Fitzpatrick isn’t worried about a recession in the immediate future.
The Financial Impact of Grief and Loss
Being immobilized in grief can be deeply painful and damaging emotionally. It can be financially damaging, as well, limiting a person’s ability to make sound financial decisions that can affect their future. This is where objective help and support is essential.
SEC to Crack Down on Misleading ESG Claims With Fund Rules
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is taking its biggest step yet to stop money managers from misleading investors when they claim their funds are focused on environmental, social or governance issues.
Responsible Investing Roadmap: Part 1
There is increasing awareness among investors of the important role that responsible investing plays in a well-diversified portfolio.
Inflation Forces Desperate Leaders to Try and Soften the Blow
The price of foods, fuels and other essential items are spiraling ever upward as Russia’s war on Ukraine compounds supply-chain woes stemming from the pandemic. Central banks may be in the driving seat when it comes to tackling inflation, but it’s governments that face the fallout and so are compelled to act.
Money’s Many And Problematic Definitions
There’s no escaping the Federal Reserve (Fed) when it comes to investing these days.
Hardening of the Economies
As with bodily atherosclerosis, curing our economic condition may require lifestyle modifications. But in one sense, it will be even worse: We’re all going to get the cure whether we want it or not. We’ll get its side effects, too… and you can bet there will be many.
Not All Private Credit Is Created Equal
Since the global financial crisis, assets in private credit have grown exponentially as investors search for yield while protecting against inflation and rising interest rates.
Tesla’s Removal From S&P Index Sparks Debate About ESG Ratings
Tesla has grown into a $735 billion company on the back of its breakthrough electric-vehicle engineering. Its own carbon footprint is a small fraction of its peers, and its success in the market has pushed the industry overall away from gas-powered vehicles.
Elevate Your Portfolio
John Paul Lech, Lead Manager of the Matthews Emerging Markets Equity Fund, explains the potential value that unique real estate equities can offer emerging market-growth portfolios.
Raghuram Rajan: Inflation, Higher Rates and Slower Growth to Come
Plan for long-term Inflation that will be fought aggressively by the Fed, higher policy rates, and slower economic growth, according to Raghuram Rajan.
The Elusive Benefits of “Lite” Annuities
This article explores the benefits of annuities with lower explicit fees, a category I dubbed as “annuities Lite” in a previous article that focused on GLWBs.
The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq Since Their 2000 Highs
Take a look at real (inflation-adjusted) charts of the S&P 500, Dow 30, and Nasdaq Composite since 2000. We've updated this through the April 29, 2022 close.
Bond Investors Underperformed Despite A Bull Market. Now What?
In our latest insight, we analyze the recent DALBAR study to determine how well (or not well) active fixed-income investors performed during the bull market and explain what we believe will be the best approach for fixed-income investing given the start of a pro-inflation paradigm shift.
How the Financial Industry Can Help Stop Modern Slavery
Modern slavery is a lucrative business that can’t exist without the financial system.
Investing in People
When Aoifinn Devitt created The Fiftyfaces Podcast in 2020, she wanted to showcase the diversity of the world’s investors by telling their stories. Now, she tells Hugo her own story—from her start as a lawyer to her current role as the first female chief investment officer at Moneta, an investment advisor with $27 billion of assets under management. In this wide-ranging discussion, Aoifinn explains how the Russia-Ukraine conflict could change how we think about ESG, whether we’re in a new investing regime, and what she’s learned from podcasting.
The Urgent Changes to Improve Your RIA Website
Unless RIAs modify their communications strategies, the failure to address the need for retirement income communications will be felt for years.
OnlyFans Offers a Lesson for Protesting Historically High Home Appraisals
The major market indices finished mixed this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.63%. The S&P 500 Stock Index rose 0.40%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.02%. The Russell 2000 small capitalization index lost 0.28% this week.
Key Reasons Why Investor Interest in Private Markets Continues to Grow
Investor interest and participation in private markets continues to grow.
Top Sea Polluters Beg for Climate Rules That No Rival Can Avoid
The ocean shipping industry, among the world’s biggest polluters, is asking a key regulator to overhaul its emissions directives so that all carriers are working off the same rulebook as they make the expensive changes needed to cut output of harmful carbons.
Fed ‘Not Out of Bullets’ Yet to Control Inflation: Milken Update
The Milken Institute Global Conference continues in Beverly Hills, California, bringing together investors, dealmakers, power brokers and celebrities to discuss markets and megatrends. Academics, sports stars, entrepreneurs and politicians among the thousands coming to the Beverly Hilton for the event, which runs through Wednesday.
This Year’s Top-Ranked Software Products
Here is the just released our 2022 T3/Inside Information Software Survey. It ranks, by market share, the leading software solutions in advisory-firm tech stacks in 35 different categories.
Using Analytics in Wealth Management: The Good and Bad (Part 2)
Forward-thinking advisors have been searching for and employing analytics very carefully. This series will explore some of these metrics, along with their benefits and pitfalls. Today’s topic is capital markets assumptions.
Why the Federal Reserve Keeps Underestimating Inflation
The Fed messed up. Big time. After almost 40 years of low, predictable price growth, inflation is back: 8.5% at last count and it may go higher still. Some of the inflation is related to pandemic re-opening, but some of it came from serious policy errors. Now the Federal Reserve faces some hard choices. It may even need to cause a recession to bring inflation back to manageable levels.
Should Advisors Have More Than One Niche?
Firms often consider launching multiple niches rather than focusing on just one. Though sometimes successful, this approach can dissipate your marketing efforts. This article offers guidelines to determine whether having multiple niches is for you.
Using Private Credit Interval Funds During Inflationary Times
Since the global financial crisis, assets in private credit have grown exponentially as investors search for yield while protecting against inflation and rising interest rates. Once a small corner of the investment universe, private credit has boomed into a major asset class that does not show signs of slowing. Over the 2010-2020 period, assets grew by 12.8% annually. However, not all private credit is created equal. My guests today will explain how the private credit landscape is quite diverse relative to its publicly traded counterpart, and investors should take time to fully understand the differences within the space.
How To Use Alternative Assets For Refuge In Uncertain Times
With the world economy still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and now dealing with the Ukraine-Russia crisis, markets face a great deal of uncertainty.
Musk Seals $44 Billion Deal Even He Wasn’t Sure Would Succeed
The world’s richest person proved the naysayers, including himself, wrong Monday when he clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc. for about $44 billion, using one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals in history to take private a 16-year-old social networking platform that has become a hub of public discourse and a flashpoint in the debate over online free speech.
What College Enrollment Trends Say About the New Economy
We know the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the U.S. workforce forever. What we don’t know for sure is how the changes will play out. Some are accelerations of trends that began around the time of the financial crisis in 2008 or earlier, while others were directly inspired by the pandemic. Still others were temporary dislocations that will revert. But it’s anyone’s guess which changes are which.
Into the Fire
If you haven’t noticed—perhaps because you live on Mars—inflation is here. Not just in the US but almost everywhere. Prices for everyday goods and services, including necessities like food, are climbing rapidly. The US Consumer Price Index rose 8.5% in the 12 months through March… and we know it understates categories like housing.
Fed Risks Shattering Pro-Jobs Policy by Taking Hammer to Prices
Jerome Powell wants to quell inflation without sinking the labor market. Success or failure will be a defining part of the Federal Reserve chair’s legacy and the pro-employment policy he’s championed.
Elon Musk’s Twitter Gambit Tees Up a Who’s In-or-Out White Knight List
Twitter Inc., which is trying to defend itself against Elon Musk’s $43 billion takeover bid, has a poison pill in place, so the next obvious move on the hostile M&A to-do list is likely already being contemplated: a white knight.
How to Plan Retirement Income for a Constrained Investor
In this article, I will explain how to structure an income strategy that best serves the needs of constrained investors. Demographic, economic, cultural, and social forces argue for a new approach to retirement planning.
The Race for Space
Moving forward beyond the pandemic of 2020, the theme the world woke up to is that people want more…more home, more land, more entertainment, more goods.
The “Putin Price Hike” Is Fake News
The war in Ukraine has contributed to inflation in the short term, but there’s much more to the story, which began way before Russia invaded its neighbor.
Near-Term Renminbi Outlook: Steady as She Goes
China’s currency, the renminbi (RMB), remains strong even though many of the factors that have driven its performance over the last two years have weakened.
Six Ways to Build a Prospect Pipeline
This article discusses how to build a prospect list, from generating leads to getting potential clients to meet with you.
Wednesday's Weekly Perspective: April 13, 2022
ICYMI: In this roundup, we’re highlighting the five most popular pieces of content from the previous week.
Institutional Investors Are Flexing Their ESG Muscles
People tend to associate environmental, social and governance investing with stock-picking, a way to sort through companies based on their ESG practices. But not every investor can be choosy about the companies they own. Big pension, endowment and sovereign wealth funds oversee tens of billions and even trillions of dollars, which means they have to own practically everything.
There's a Bull Market in Macro Doom
There is a genre of investment research that continuously predicts economic disaster that I call “macro doom.” It has become very popular. It seems that everyone is an expert in macroeconomics today, and they’re all predicting a bust of some kind.
War in Ukraine: Part 4 – Are There Neo-Nazis in Ukraine?
I hope the discomfort and pain you experience reading this piece are but a small fraction of what I experienced writing it. I keep reminding myself that most of our problems today are first-world problems that are generally trivial and insignificant compared to what people in Ukraine are going through.
Conflicting Incentives in 529 Plans Harm Plan Participants
Because 529 plans are exempt from SEC oversight, they can charge higher fees and use that revenue in ways that do not benefit plan participants. New research shows some states are guilty of this abuse.
Student Loan Forgiveness Is an Idea Whose Time Has Gone
Most Americans say the most important problem facing the country is inflation — and President Joe Biden just made it worse. His administration announced last week it would extend yet again the emergency suspension of student loan repayments, even as his frenemies on the left are urging a program of complete forgiveness of all student debt.
Bitcoin 2022: We’re Still So Early
An estimated 30,000 people attended this week’s Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, which is rapidly becoming a major global crypto-finance hub.
International and Global Markets Commentary & Investment Outlook
A “soft landing” scenario is not so straightforward in the current context. We have emphasized companies that we believe have pricing power because of the mission-critical or value-add nature of their products and services.
Income Alternatives in a Rising Rate Environment
With many major market forces still to be determined, it is likely that 2022 will be characterized by transitions. One such transition, a rising rate environment, has historically resulted in the underperformance of traditional fixed income. As rates increase, fixed income exposures typically fall short, leaving investors with the need to reevaluate and consider alternative solutions to enhance their current allocations. Emerging markets debt, investment grade floating rate notes and business development companies (BDCs) may provide investors with alternative yield options while also offering liquidity, credit and quality.
Complementary Asset Classes: Why Now?
Given that (1) investors have benefitted from a market environment that reliably produced a source of positive returns from a 60/40 mix, and (2) we’ve just completed the best period for that mix in nearly 70 years of tracking, why would an investor want to consider a change?
Mom and Pop Buying Fewer Muni Bonds Directly as ETFs Heat Up
The value of bonds directly owned by households fell by $18 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, dropping to the lowest level since 2008, according to Federal Reserve data. Instead, those buyers are moving toward mutual funds and exchange traded funds, which have roughly doubled their muni holdings over the last decade.
Tesla-Backed Startup Made Cheap Power a Debt Burden for the World’s Poorest
As a solar panel was raised onto the roof of their mud-brick home in a Tanzanian village in sight of Mount Kilimanjaro, Akida Saidi and his wife felt giddy at the prospect of entering a new era. In a place where most residents make do with pit latrines instead of toilets and till their fields of maize and pigeon peas with hoes, suddenly having electricity would catapult them into the 21st century.
Europe’s Hypocritical Gas Policy Isn’t Sustainable
Europeans enduring an unseasonal April cold snap may be forgiven for thinking winter is back. But for the natural gas market, summer has arrived. April 1 marked the start of a new year in the energy calendar, moving the focus to injecting enough gas into storage during the coming low-demand months in preparation for next winter. It’s a race Europe cannot afford to lose, but one it will struggle to win following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Global Convertible Market Update: Portfolio Manager Q&A
Diverse opportunities in Global Convertibles, as well as structural features, provide tailwinds to counter rising rates and equity volatility. In rising rate environments, convertibles have historically done quite well relative to longer-duration traditional fixed income investments.
Greenwashing Amongst ESG: Finding True ESG Value
As clients clamor to invest in Environmental, Social, Governance, or ESG funds, advisors need to separate the truth from the tsunami of “greenwashing” that has clouded this rapidly-growing investment segment.