Insights

Policy Benchmarking: Best Practices for Private Investments

For investors with private allocations, how one incorporates them into the policy benchmark will materially impact the portfolio’s relative performance, making the choice key to informed decision making. We review the various methodologies used and make a series of recommendations on best practices to follow. In considering the performance of private investments within the total portfolio, we anchor to a set of principles: keep it simple, don’t treat private investments differently, and make performance evaluation as meaningful as possible.

May 2018

Portfolio Benchmarking: Best Practices for Private Investments

When assessing performance at the aggregate private portfolio and sub-component level, investors should take the long view. In this publication, we review how long funds take to settle into their ultimate quartile ranking and highlight our framework for benchmarking a portfolio of private investments.

May 2018

Trade Finance: An Expanding Opportunity for Institutional Investors

While trade finance is among the oldest forms of institutionalized credit, it has only recently become an accessible market for most institutional investors. Providing high liquidity, good return premiums over cash, and a predictable risk profile, it can play a valuable role in portfolio strategy. However, as a fairly new option for most investors, its […]

May 2018

Is Cash Still Trash?

Not in the United States. As short rates have increased and the yield curve has flattened, US T-bills offer more appeal than they have in some time (and short-dated Treasuries even more so).

May 2018

Venture Capital and Impact Investing: Blurring Boundaries Mean New Opportunities

Impact investing – allocations that aim for social and/or environmental change or to solve a problem in the world – has historically stood apart from “traditional,” financial-return driven investing. But increasingly in several asset classes, including venture capital, an exciting convergence of variables is blurring the boundaries, perhaps turning this old distinction on its head. […]

May 2018

VantagePoint: Second Quarter 2018

Advice in Brief The global economy and capital markets are constantly evolving. From the industrial revolution in the 1700s, to information technology in the last 45 years, waves of innovation have had profound implications for society, the global economy, and investors. At the same time, debt cycles, demographics, and productivity trends all have a slow-moving, […]

April 2018

Thoughts on the “Retail Apocalypse”

Retail is changing and some companies face challenges, but this theme has probably been overhyped, and implications for investors are limited. The retailing industry is experiencing significant change and traditional business models have been disrupted. The growth of e-commerce has dovetailed with ongoing store closures by some high profile retailers, leading to press reports about […]

April 2018

Should Investors Reposition their Portfolios in Response to Recent Tariffs and the Rising Threat of Trade Wars?

Not necessarily. Although we believe the announced tariffs are a negative for the global economy, recent market moves have probably more than baked in the pain they will cause.

April 2018