Insights

Has Our Broad Investment Outlook Changed Considering the Recent Bank Collapses?

No. We continue to think investors should tightly manage risk by keeping equity allocations and bond duration in line with broad policy targets and resist the temptation to time the market. We entered the year with those views, which depended on our expectation that recessions in the United States and euro area were likely, given […]

March 2023

Regulators Seek to Contain SVB Fallout

Following no US bank failures in the last two years, two banks failed in the last three days—Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. As the situation evolved last week, investors, businesses, and regulators became increasingly concerned about SVB and risks to the broader economy. Over the weekend, US officials from the Federal Reserve, Treasury, […]

March 2023

Endowment Radar Study 2022: A Dynamic Role

Endowment Radar is a methodology that Cambridge Associates developed to visually evaluate the endowment’s role in the college and university enterprise. The four components of Endowment Radar measure the endowment’s role in supporting the annual budget (Endowment Dependence), pricing strategy (Endowment Support-to-Financial Aid), balance sheet health (Endowment-to-Debt), and financial sustainability (Net Flow Rate). Our 2022 […]

March 2023

A Social & Environmental Equity Investing Framework for Better Real-World Outcomes

Investing can often feel like steering a ship through stormy seas, traversing risks seen and unseen. In recent years, the siren song of investment products that appear aligned with achieving genuine social and financial returns—but are merely designed to attract assets—is one such danger. And this trend, coupled with economic uncertainty, creates a perfect storm […]

March 2023

Will the Outperformance of Eurozone Equities Persist?

No, while the recent outperformance and positivity surrounding Eurozone equities was justified by shifts in the macroeconomic landscape, we do not have confidence that outperformance will continue, given the challenges still facing the region. Therefore, we suggest investors keep Eurozone equity allocations in line with policy weights. Since their recent relative low point at the […]

March 2023

Inverted World: The Attractiveness of Short-Term Tiers for Healthcare Systems

A healthcare system’s investment structure is intentionally aligned to match varying enterprise needs over the short, intermediate, and long term. Most have gravitated toward the use of tiers—pools of capital delineated as available immediately (operating cash), within the next few years (short-duration bonds), or strategically over time (long-term investment pools). However, the need for capital […]

March 2023

Multiemployer Plans Receiving SFA Program Assets Face Critical Allocation Choices

Regulations are often controversial, but few in recent history have had so many different interpretations and large revisions as the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program for underfunded multiemployer pension plans (MEPP). Now that the dust has settled, one of the biggest risks for plan sponsors is not taking full advantage of the opportunities that are […]

February 2023

Is the Crypto Winter Over?

No, it’s not over, but the worst of it is past us. After the liquid token market’s remarkable January, some called an early spring. To be sure, January’s returns were extraordinary, with bitcoin up 39%. However, token prices are only back to levels seen prior to FTX’s collapse in November and the industry is still […]

February 2023