Alternative Investing
Trend Following in Focus
September 19, 2018
We use live data of trend-focused managers starting in 2000 via the SG Trend Index to contextualize recent performance and to re-affirm the merits of the strategy.
Portfolio Construction
Transactions Costs: Practical Application
September 17, 2018
We offer guidance on understanding transactions costs, including a discussion of the practical aspects of measuring them and the pitfalls one might face when trying to compare costs across managers.
Volatility
Understanding the Volatility Risk Premium
May 11, 2018
The volatility risk premium (VRP) represents the compensation that investors earn for providing protection against market losses. We explain the reasons why it may exist and explore its historical performance with a simple option-selling strategy.
Tax Aware
Style Investing and Tax Efficiency: Building a More Tax Efficient Global Equity Portfolio for Australian Investors
May 1, 2018
We evaluate the performance of long-only style-based equity strategies after accounting for taxes. We and find that style investing can be efficiently implemented in a tax-aware manner for Australian investors.
Alternative Investing
Understanding Alternative Risk Premia
March 13, 2018
With its many potential benefits, including generally low-to-no correlation to a traditional 60/40 or hedge fund portfolio, we believe an ARP strategy may serve as a core alternative solution in investors’ portfolios.
Risk Parity
Not Risk Parity Funds
February 7, 2018
The source of the recent market disruption may not be fully understood yet, but we can reveal what it wasn’t.
Asset Allocation
Asset Allocation in a Low Yield Environment
August 21, 2017
In 2016, bond yields dropped to unprecedented low levels in major developed markets. Even in a low rate environment, we think it’s important to diversify across many return sources.
Retirement
Intelligent Risk Taking: How to Secure Retirement in a Low Expected Return World
August 15, 2017
We examine the rate of return needed to deliver a comfortable retirement based on current savings rates as well as intelligent ways to construct portfolios to achieve this rate of return.
Portfolio Construction
A Half Century of Macro Momentum
August 10, 2017
"Macro momentum has the potential to deliver strong positive returns with low correlation to traditional asset classes across macroeconomic and market environments. It may also provide diversification benefits in bear equity markets and rising yield environments. "
Asset Allocation
Market Timing: Sin a Little
August 9, 2017
Is market timing an easy source of added value or a sin to be avoided? We examine the evidence and find that adding a dose of momentum is a practical way to enhance value timing strategies. Investors may benefit from a modest amount of market timing.