By changing the PPA discount rate methodology to the Full Yield Curve approach, ERISA-covered US single-employer pension plans can significantly decrease or eliminate their variable rate premiums, reduce complexity, and simplify the risk management process.
For families of significant wealth, complexity is a natural byproduct of a well-managed portfolio, but there is such a thing as overcomplexity. This paper discusses a range of best practices to consider if and when a portfolio is encountering sluggishness, inefficiency, or ambiguity.
Inflation is having a moment—driving up the costs of delivering the nonprofit mission and making it more challenging to maintain endowment purchasing power. This environment highlights the importance of endowment spending policies and their role in balancing near-term spending needs and intergenerational equity.
Yes. A rigorous operational due diligence (ODD) review is a core piece of the investment manager underwriting process that allows limited partners to make informed investment decisions. Recent banking sector events, including yesterday’s collapse of First Republic Bank, highlight the need for a constantly evolving ODD framework capable of identifying and addressing both ongoing and new risks that managers may encounter.
Costs are an important consideration when devising an overall wealth management strategy. Each family’s wealth management cost formula is different. Various tools and insights are available to help them make informed decisions about how to meet their unique service requirements and investment goals at a reasonable cost.
Our 2022 Endowment Radar Study reflects the important role of the endowment in the dynamic private college and university business model. The endowment played a relatively smaller role in supporting growing operating budgets and financial aid commitments compared to 2021.
A growing number of institutions and families are choosing to spend down assets over a limited time, rather than investing in perpetuity. There are valid arguments for—and against—using a spend-down approach to achieve philanthropic and investment goals. This paper provides historical context for spend-down funds, considers nuances for achieving good governance, and suggests an approach for dynamic asset allocation strategy, with case studies as illustrations.
In our 2022 Sustainable and Impact Investing Survey, we reached out to Cambridge Associates clients for insights into how investors are thinking about sustainable and impact investing, as well as to identify changes in the field over the past two years and to understand possible future trends. Of the 144 clients who responded, 93 reported engaging in sustainable and impact investing, and this chart book explores trends in the investment structure, implementation strategies, and governance and measurement of sustainable and impact investing.
Drawing on research that Cambridge Associates has conducted with major grant-making foundations, this paper discusses the shifting mission-aligned investment landscape and the importance of governance in developing and overseeing a mission-aligned investment program. We lay out important steps in the mission-alignment process to define the scope of the commitment, structure, key milestones, and measures of success.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 included substantial relief funds for the most troubled US multiemployer pension plans through its Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program. This paper looks at how multiemployer plans have a unique opportunity to improve their solvency through 2051 and beyond by optimizing how they invest both SFA relief funds and their existing plan assets.