Investors are watching conflict in the Middle East closely as inflationary pressures begin to build beneath the surface. One of the challenges for many investors is reduced exposure to the hedging benefits of fossil fuels in listed, and private markets.
The funded status of corporate DB pension plans has experienced unprecedented volatility in the 21st century. This article examines the sources of funded status volatility seen over the past two decades and discusses how plan sponsors of DB pension plans have adapted. It argues it is important to exercise care in the strategy that is chosen and in the timing of implementation.
The board of the $154 billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas has approved changes to its strategic asset allocation as a result of its latest five-year study, increasing its allocation to private markets, risk parity and introducing leverage.
A key issue in life-cycle fund design is setting the right ‘glide path’ for switching from growth to defensive assets over time. As it turns out, risk aversion is far more important than pension fund balance. New research raises a note of caution over offering a single, one-size-fits-all life-cycle fund.
A decade of ultra-low rates and mediocre growth does not mean that every year will yield low returns for investors, according to Damian Graham, the CIO of First State Super one of Australia's largest institutional investors. He talks about how to get enough risk in the portfolio.
The size factor has recently come under attack from smart beta providers because its performance has lagged behind other factors. A common recommendation is to remove size from the factor menu, to give more weight to factors with better performance. But due to its low correlation with other factors, size offers substantial diversification benefits.
In this third and final article on the EDHECinfra/G20 survey of infrastructure benchmarking practices the role of infrastructure investment benchmarks for the purpose of risk management is discussed.
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