News & Insights
Own the Commodity, Not the Company
The question of whether inflation is transitory (or is facing a structural shift higher) continues to dominate the narrative in financial markets. Alarm bells are sounding that a hyperinflationary environment is unavoidable and right around the corner, given that the “base-effects” have rolled off the year-over-year readings while consumer prices have nonetheless remined high. The […]
News & Insights
Glide Path to a Crash Landing
Innovation in the financial services industry happens frequently. While innovation is generally good for investors, conflicts of interest can and do arise, and if left unchecked, they can end up being detrimental to investors. One area where conflicts of interest are being brought to light are with target-date investment funds (TDFs). TDFs were created for the purpose of […]
Research Notes
Death to the 60/40! Long Live the 60/40!
The traditional 60/40 balanced portfolio is no stranger to coming under fire. Many pundits have decreed the death of the balanced portfolio, arguing that a low yield environment will prove insurmountable and bonds will no longer be able to provide necessary diversification for investor portfolios. This proclamation has yet to be proven correct, and in the investment […]
News & Insights
Flying Too Close to the Sun
Many have heard the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, the boy who was granted the gift of flight by his father who crafted wings out of wax and feathers in order for the duo to escape the labyrinth to which they were confined. Icarus’s father had only one warning for his son and that was […]
News & Insights
Monte Carlo Simulations: A Journey Down Many Paths
In a previous blog post by Viewpoint Investment Partners, Volatility, A Skewed Reality, Amin Haji, Manager, Research & Analytics, explored the probability of specific wealth targets being achieved over a 20-year period when comparing investments with similar annual returns but differing volatilities. To perform his analysis, he leveraged a simple but powerful tool: Monte Carlo simulations. […]
News & Insights
The Great White Short Redux
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released their bi-annual Fiscal Monitor Report earlier this month, which drew a lot of attention. Governments are increasingly relying on fiscal stimulus measures to keep their economies afloat in various stages of lockdown while trying to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, and investors are wondering what the ramifications of this increased […]
News & Insights
When Data Talks Out of Both Sides of Its Mouth
Imagine that you are a clinical physician recommending a promising new drug that has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack in at-risk patients. At the end of the year, you ask one of your attending physicians to build an Excel sheet breaking down the efficacy of the drug in your patients. Your attending […]
Research Notes
Know When to Hold’em, Know When to Fold’em
In Part 1 of this blog series, we illustrated how applying a prudent amount of leverage to a risk parity strategy allows investors to harvest a “diversification premium,” potentially leading to a more efficient outcome for investors who require a risk and return profile similar to global equity markets. The risk parity strategy accepts the underlying […]
News & Insights
ESG’s Internal Scorecard
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics for publicly traded companies has become one of the fastest growing movements in the investment management industry. The expectation is that companies who implement strong ESG metrics will become more profitable and valuable over time by improving the interests of society, which should provide investors in these companies with […]