May 23, 2013
In my last blog posting, I listed numbers 6 through 10 of my top ten list of must-read books for Institutional Investors. Continuing the list:
Number 5: Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment by David F. Swensen.
May 16, 2013
In the next few blog postings, I shall list ten books I consider unusually important, influential or interesting for institutional investors. It’s a personal list and I’m sure readers will have their own favorites I may have overlooked. If you don’t agree with me, don’t get mad but do feel free to send in a comment; if there’s enough response, I may do a follow-up once my own list is complete.
May 9, 2013
On Tuesday (May 7th), at our institutional Summit conference in Savannah, Ga., I made the observation “you don’t want to set up a targeted objective specific to your particular goals and then measure something else in order to see how you are doing.” That same day, 574 miles away in Washington, D.C., the Department of Labor put this sentiment into action and announced its long-anticipated plans for reporting lifetime income illustrations in defined contribution pension plans.
May 3, 2013
I’m currently in the final stages of preparation for our annual Institutional Summit conference (Savannah, GA., this year, thank you for asking; should be great.) So just a short blog post this week, to draw attention to the updated version of our Corporate Pension Finance Handbook, which is now available on request.
April 24, 2013
Many investors assume if they hold the view that interest rates are likely to rise, then they ought to reduce their exposure to bonds (and to long-duration bonds in particular). It’s not quite that simple; it can actually be smarter to increase long-duration bond holdings even if rates are rising.
April 15, 2013
Low interest rates and straitened finances continue to put pension systems – of all types – under pressure. The latest shot was fired by former hedge fund manager Andy Kessler in a Wall Street Journal opinion column , under the heading “The pension rate-of-return fantasy”. He argues public pension plan return assumptions are unrealistically high. Noting Calpers has lowered its expected rate of return from 7.75% to 7.5%, he says “there is almost zero probability Calpers will earn 7.5% on its $255 billion anytime soon”.
April 8, 2013
It’s more than five months since I posted on the subject of asset allocation for nonprofit organizations , so I’m long overdue picking up a thread I left hanging at that time: why do nonprofit asset allocations differ?
