Insights

Should Taxable Investors Still Rely on Municipal Bonds to Boost After-Tax Returns?

Yes. Municipal (muni) bonds have recently outperformed taxable equivalents before taxes and the tax advantage of high-quality munis has grown as interest rates have gone up. We recommend a neutral allocation to high-quality munis in taxable portfolios. Beyond the high-quality space, muni closed-end funds (CEFs) have the potential to deliver compelling after-tax returns. The previous […]

October 2023

No Surprises: Managing Risk in Family Portfolios

Creating portfolios that are customized to a family’s unique investment goals and risk tolerance requires ingenuity and flexible thinking. However, the execution of risk management should be more systematic. It depends on setting clear frameworks to monitor risks, consistently implementing those frameworks to ensure one’s understanding of the portfolio remains current, and regularly communicating the […]

October 2023

Strategic Investor Engagement: Driving Stewardship for a Net Zero Future

To accelerate net zero objectives, investors are well placed to leverage their voice as asset owners through stewardship and engagement activities with investments not aligned with a net zero pathway. Climate-related engagement can yield significant positive outcomes, and there are multiple ways to engage depending on an investor’s capacity and resources. Recent research shows that […]

October 2023

Net Zero Investment Consultants Initiative Progress Report, September 2023

The 2023 Net Zero Investment Consultants Initiative Progress Report underscores our commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner. This first progress report, published in September 2023, details initiatives in client education, investment manager assessments, and portfolio alignment with net zero targets to drive real-world emissions reductions. Achieving net zero is […]

September 2023

Key Central Bank Policy Rates Approach Cyclical Peak

Over the past two weeks, central banks in the United States, United Kingdom, euro area, and Japan have all held monetary policy meetings. The communications following these meetings retained a hawkish bias, suggesting further policy tightening may be necessary—except for the Bank of Japan (BOJ)—however, additional interest rate hikes will likely be much less frequent […]

September 2023

Six Things to Know About Co-investments

Let’s Get Smarter as Co-investing Gets Harder Investor interest in co-investing has grown in recent years, given the benefits (discussed in more detail below) for both general partners (GPs) and limited partners (LPs). The co-investment universe has grown rapidly, with Cambridge Associates (CA) estimating total private equity co-investment activity in 2022 to have been ~$50 […]

September 2023

Do Recent Upward Revisions to the United Kingdom's GDP Mean the Outlook Is Brighter?

No. Although GDP revisions showing that the UK economy recovered more quickly and strongly from the COVID-19 period than was initially thought are welcome, the country faces headwinds to growth in the coming quarters. We continue to recommend holding UK equities at benchmark weights. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently released revisions to historical […]

September 2023

Will Japanese Equities Continue to Outperform?

No, we do not think it is likely that Japanese equities can meaningfully outperform in the near term, given growing headwinds from the slowing global manufacturing cycle, possible monetary tightening, and potential Japanese yen (JPY) strength. Still, we do not think investors should be intentionally underweight, as Japan may continue to benefit from structural changes […]

August 2023