An Overview Of Endowment Management Costs
This survey-based report examines five main areas of endowment management expense (investment management, investment supervision, custody, legal, and accounting/audit) and explores funding sources for each.
Authored by: Ian Kennedy
Preserving Purchasing Power in a Difficult Environment
This short paper reviews asset class valuations and offers summary asset allocation recommendations.
Portfolio Risk Measurement – Shortfall and Relative Risk Analysis
A discussion of how to think about and measure risk at two key stages in the investment management process: when constructing a coherent long-term asset allocation policy, and when implementing and evaluating that policy once developed.
Fixed Income Investing for Endowments and Foundations – Policy and Practice
A discussion of the role of bonds in policy portfolios and issues related to the implementation of a fixed income allocation, including sector allocation, duration targets, active versus passive management, and selection of an appropriate benchmark. Exhibits cover data on returns for various bond sectors, correlations with other asset classes, and Treasury yield curve shifts…
FTSE Free Float
Evaluation of the effect of FTSE restructuring their indexes, specifically the FTSE All-Share Index, to better reflect the underlying free float reveals that index changes will be minor in the United Kingdom. The dearth of restricted holdings in the U.K. market should minimize the turnover and trading costs associated with FTSE’s change over to free-float…
A Train Without a Locomotive
Economists have been rapidly ratcheting down their growth forecasts to keep pace with the latest onslaught of negative news. While global equity markets expectations are much saner relative to the lofty expectations of yesterday, a turnaround in six months is not guaranteed. Major central banks are preoccupied with their region’s unique economic woes so the…
The Current State of Play
Despite the severity of the peak-to-trough declines in the Nasdaq and S&P 500, it is hard to make the case that most equity investors have been put through the wringer of a serious bear market.
MSCI EAFE
MSCI is restructuring its global equity indexes to more accurately reflect trading opportunities in each market. These changes will improve the investability and liquidity of each index, as well as provide greater predictability and transparency to their methodology. However, with an estimated $2.3 trillion benchmarked against MSCI EAFE, the change will also increase turnover and…
Indicating What?
The euro-zone economy has undoubtedly caught some sort of bug, and investors are struggling to diagnose whether this is just a cold or a more serious case of the flu. On the one hand, business sentiment and industrial production have dropped sharply, but on the other hand consumer sentiment and spending have held up relatively…
Putting the U.S. Equity Market in Perspective
A look at major U.S. equity indexes returns over one-, two-, and five-year periods to put the ongoing decline in perspective.