Risky Business Update: Challenges Remain for Today’s Investors
A Callan analysis found that investors in 2015 needed to take on three times as much risk as they did 20 years before to earn the same expected return. We recently updated our analysis and found that investors in 2019 needed to take on almost six times as much risk as they did 30 years ago
Untangling the Gordian Knot of ‘Cash Drag’
Modern portfolios are increasingly complicated as they have expanded beyond stocks and bonds. The management of those portfolios—and the attendant illiquidity that can come with alternative investments—has many asset owners staring at a Gordian knot very much in need of untangling. With Alexandrian efficiency, a futures-based cash overlay can slice through many of the issues complicating cash […]
Vexing Volatility
Market volatility spiked in February, coinciding with declines for broad equity and fixed income indices. Callan surveyed leading multi-asset class (MAC) strategy providers to understand how the products reacted in this newly volatile environment.
The Politics of Investing
While it can be risky to directly correlate political developments with market movements, a look at some aspects of the current political landscape merits investor consideration. In this blog post I will discuss the various policies under consideration by the current U.S. administration and share manager insights learned after discussing the political environment and markets […]
Sanguine Sentiment Fuels Risk-on Rally in Q1 2017
The risk-on theme persisted through the first quarter as improving economic data trumped elevated geopolitical uncertainty, both in the U.S. and abroad. Economies in the U.S. and Europe continued to gain traction and the U.S. entered its 93rd month of expansion. In a widely expected move, the Fed raised rates in March by 25 bps, […]
Risk Parity: A Primer
I recently wrote an article on risk parity for a CFA Institute publication on multi-asset-class strategies. This excerpt from that article covers all the basics and should put you well on the path to risk parity expertise. “Risk parity” is a term used to describe investment strategies where capital is allocated across asset classes so […]
In Context: Market Volatility
Yesterday, equity market volatility touched off a host of headlines and commentary. Here, we present a longer-term context around market volatility. Market volatility can be measured in a number of ways. We address three in the following exhibits, two historical (or experienced) and one expected (or implied). Sizable Daily Moves The table below shows a […]