No. The November US midterm elections could affect regulatory, fiscal, foreign, and AI policy, but uncertain outcomes and market implications make election-driven trades a poor basis for investment decisions. In our view, investors are better served by maintaining resilient, diversified portfolios than by positioning for an anticipated election outcome.
This report provides a comparative overview of management fees and discretionary expenses across four hedge fund strategies in Cambridge Associates’ manager universe—long/short equity, credit opportunities, multi-strategy, and global macro—for the years 2022 through 2025.
Stocks gained last week even as bonds sold off, boosted by sentiment around Agentic AI and hopes that diplomacy would ease energy market friction stemming from the Iran War.
The most effective investment offices are not necessarily the ones that do the most internally. They are the ones designed with intention. They establish internal leadership where it adds value, and secure external partnership when it improves outcomes. This note discusses principles of investment resourcing and how to design an investment office that moves beyond the false choice between control and partnership, to achieve both.
No. Sovereign bond yields across developed markets are likely to stay higher for longer given the macro, monetary, and fiscal backdrop, but a sustained, disorderly rise in yields looks unlikely.
Global equities advanced in August, gaining 2.3% as resilient activity data and earnings outweighed higher bond yields.
Yes. Investors should reassess the role of emerging markets equities because benchmark concentration has reduced diversification benefits and increased exposure to the same artificial intelligence–driven forces leading developed markets.
Our annual survey-based report summarizes returns, asset allocation, and other investment-related data for 115 foundations for the calendar year ended December 31, 2025.
Calendar year 2025 was another year of strong absolute performance for foundation portfolios. It was the third straight year that the foundation median returned double-digit percentage points, and the trailing three-year return was one of the best across the historical record. Meanwhile, the strong bull market in public equities resulted in an investment environment where diversified portfolios struggled to keep up with a simple blended index. Longer-term peer ranking were also less dependent upon private investment allocations than in past years. This section highlights performance results across both short- and long-term trailing periods.
The choice of benchmark for private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) continued to be the most impactful decision when evaluating a foundation’s investment return versus its policy portfolio benchmark. In recent years where public equity markets have outperformed private strategies, the use of a public index to represent PE/VC in a benchmark would have resulted in a high bar for a diversified portfolio to clear. This section summarizes the various approaches that foundations use for benchmarking total portfolio returns and compares performance versus policy benchmarks.