Most defined benefit plans—including public, multi-employer, and even frozen corporate plans—can benefit from private investment (PI) strategies. It is fairly common knowledge that private investments offer important value in the form of increased expected investment returns, and that they can be instrumental in improving funded status and achieving other plan goals. Despite this, many plan […]
September 2022
In the second of our two-part series on philanthropy and sustainable investing, we take a closer look at portfolio implementation best practices for families. In doing so, we outline how families may wish to identify opportunities within sustainable and impact investing (SII) themes. We discuss the broad opportunity set, how to construct and then actively […]
August 2022
In engaging with our family clients around the world, we are often asked for views on two related topics – how to think about philanthropy versus impact investing and how to best implement a socially and/or environmentally impactful investment strategy. Whilst common themes transcend these topics, each is distinct, and, as such, we will outline […]
August 2022
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 impact on budget funding (Endowment Dependence), pricing strategy (Endowment Support-to-Financial Aid), balance sheet health (Endowment-to-Debt), and an indicator of future purchasing power (Net Flow Rate). […]
April 2022
No. While there is no danger of the fiscal floodgates opening in Europe, the 'traffic-light' coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) looks set to oversee some loosening of the fiscal purse strings in Germany.
December 2021
In the midst of heightened awareness of systemic risks in climate change and social inequality, many investors concerned about long-term portfolio resilience have used their voice to seek change that benefits all investors and the broader system. We expect investors will adopt active engagement practices to a greater extent in 2022, assuming significant policy changes around climate and social issues do not materialize.
December 2021
The Build Back Better Act recently introduced in the US House of Representatives includes many tax provisions that would significantly impact US taxpayers. However, any major bill’s road from introduction to enactment is typically long, winding, and unpredictable. This note summarizes four tax planning–related questions we view as prime candidates for consideration by US families with substantial wealth, notwithstanding that uncertainty.
September 2021
Although OCIO has become a buzzword across the broad investment community, many defined benefit plan sponsors have questions about how an OCIO affects a pension plan sponsor's role as fiduciary and which elements are key to a successful OCIO relationship. Here, we answer 7 common plan sponsor questions on outsourcing.
July 2021