‘Growth Traps’ Outnumber ‘Value Traps’: GMO
About 30% of stocks in the MSCI US Value index underperform that index by 9% on average in a typical year, writes our guest columnist. But about 37% of...
Investing
Who snagged the best investment results in 2021? Dalbar knows
Dalbar founder Lou Harvey's latest Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior shows how much more equity investors might have earned in 2021 if they had stuck to the fundamentals. But...
Look to China for investment growth: Cerulli
Cerulli, the global research firm, expects Asia ex-Japan retirement funds to continue to lead in terms of growth, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.9% between...
Diversification and Insurance: Which Should Come First?
'Diversification before insurance tends to perform better than insurance before diversification in the long run... but there are exceptions to this finding,' according to four analysts at Rand Merchant...
Signs of a ‘Price-Chasing’ Bubble
'Very low rates have contributed to the duration and amplitude of the stock market’s trajectory over most of the last decade,' leading to a dangerous risk buildup, writes our...
Hardwired COLA vs. Performance-Based COLA: What’s Best?
For retirees who don’t mind slight to moderate reductions in their annual income roughly one-third of the time, we recommend withdrawing a fixed percentage of their portfolio’s ending account...
China’s Bond Market: Too Big To Ignore
'At about $16 trillion in value, the Chinese market has become too big to ignore as it grows in bond indices and offers higher yields than in the other...
Where investors put their money in February: Morningstar
ETFs collected roughly $92 billion, driven by a move into passive equity funds, while open-end mutual funds took in $53 billion, led by flows into actively managed fixed-income strategies,...
Beware the Equity Bubble: Jeremy Grantham
In his new quarterly letter, the master of value investing warns that all the classic signs of an overextended bull market are flashing red. He recommends value and emerging...
Time to overweight equities: BlackRock
'A key risk to our US equities view: The winding down of key Fed/Treasury emergency support facilities by the US Treasury highlights risks ahead for overall US policy support,...
A Closer Look at CLOs
New research into collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which are helping reshape the investment policies of the life/annuity industry, explores whether they have the same vulnerabilities as the 'CDOs' in...
Visualizing Retirement Portfolio Survival
Our guest columnist, originator of the 7TwelvePortfolio strategy, shares a spreadsheet tool that he uses to engage older clients in conversation about the long-term risks associated with different retirement...
Pace of portfolio construction outsourcing will slow: Cerulli
In times of uncertainty, more advisers prefer to retain control over investment decisions rather than follow outsourced or company-mandated portfolio adjustments, the research firm said in a new report....
Reasons (Not) to Be Cheerful
'Voltaire observed, “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” The U.S. stock market appears to be absurd,' writes the member of the asset allocation team at...
The Big Sick Leave: How Bad Will The Economy Get?
Economists don't expect the crisis to resolve before the summer. Assuming that no effective vaccine or treatment appears suddenly, we’re probably in for a long campaign.
“Buffered” ETFs for sensitive stomachs
Like registered index-linked annuities (aka structured annuities), Innovator's Defined Outcome ETFs use options to generate a customized range of returns based on the movement of an equity index.
At These Rates, Why Bother to Save?
Negative real interest rates have become a disincentive to personal savings, especially among lower-income Americans who will rely heavily on Social Security and Medicaid anyway, this team of economists...
‘Performance-enhanced’ bond funds? Evidently.
Many actively managed bond funds are riskier than advertised, and often provide higher returns than their stated portfolio holdings would suggest, according to research by business school professors at...
Why Are Stocks So High?
Because corporations have been returning more of their profits over to shareholders and less to workers, especially over the past 30 years, according to authoritative recent research. The implication...
Financial Engines keeps growing
The 401k investment advice firm added hundreds of plans. Phyllis C. Borzi, who led the Obama administration's fiduciary rule effort, has joined the Edelman Financial Engines board of directors....
