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Results 201–250
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Yesterday?s Gone: Year-End Capital Markets Commentary and Expectations
With updated return expectations, we estimate that the performance of U.S. stocks and bonds over the next 10 years will be significantly lower than long-term historical averages. Other asset classes may produce moderately better returns.
The Promise of Smart Beta
by Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates,
Forty years ago, Jack Bogle helped revolutionize our industry for the benefit of the investor. Today there is opportunity for a second revolutionpromising to bring the same low costs and high transparency to additional equity factors. Can smart beta break free from the conventional objectives of asset gathering and obfuscation, and deliver on that promise? Jason Hsu provides his commitment and reasserts that of Research Affiliates to deliver on the promise of smart beta.
Busting the Myth About Size
Many market participants (including investors, product providers, and analysts alike) assume that, just as value stocks on average outperform growth, small-cap stocks on average outperform large-caps. Unlike value, however, and contrary to popular opinion, there is little solid evidence that stock size affects performance.
Go for the Gold: Commodities and Inflation
by Denis Chaves of Research Affiliates,
Unexpected inflation would be especially damaging to portfolio returns when asset class yields are low, but a modest amount of inflation protection can substantially mitigate the risk. Commodities can be effective hedges against inflationary shocks.
Our Investment Beliefs
The public launch of Research Affiliates interactive Asset Allocation website this month gives us an opportunity to describe the investment beliefs underlying our models, expected returns, and investment strategies. To be clear, our beliefs are constructs that help us make sense of the capital markets.
Retirement Planning: Millennials vs. Boomers
by Noah Beck of Research Affiliates,
Rob Arnott and Lillian Wu recently wrote that young workers are more likely than older ones to lose their jobs in an economic downturn.They are also prone to draw on their 401(k) plan to meet basic living expenses while they are unemployed. Given these facts, the early-phase concentration in equitieswhose market prices are roughly correlated with the business cyclemakes target-date funds inordinately risky for young investors. In this article, Noah Beck considers TDFs in the broader context of workers total assets, including their own human capital.
What Are We Doing to Our Young Investors?
In the latest piece from Research Affiliates, Rob Arnott, chairman and CEO, and Lillian Wu, researcher, look at the growing use of target date funds by young workers, and how their defined contribution (DC) portfolios are therefore increasingly concentrated in stocks. However, young workers are more likely to cash out their DC assets to meet living expenses during a recession or other hardship, and equity volatility could leave them in a bind. Arnott and Wu offer a potential solution: less risky starter portfolios.
Finding Smart Beta in the Factor Zoo
In the latest piece from Research Affiliates, Jason Hsu, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, and Vitali Kalesnik, head of equity research, look at how the "publish-or-perish" syndrome and the smart beta movement have motivated academics and practitioners to come up with a spate of new investment factors. How can investors determine which ones are legitimate and how to use them in their equity portfolios?
The Outlook for Emerging Market Bonds
Emerging market bonds exhibit high real yields and improving credit quality. In addition, emerging market currencies are likely to strengthen. This article explains why emerging market bonds issued in local currencies might be a solid addition to a diversified portfolio.
The Moneyball of Quality Investing
Factor investing has rightfully gained adherents among investors seeking superior risk-adjusted returns. Our research reveals that quality is not a factor that reliably commands a premium in its own right. Nonetheless, value investing conditioned upon certain indicators of company quality is a promising strategy.
I'd Choose Emerging Markets, Wouldn't You?
by Ryan Larson of Research Affiliates,
Theres a lot of negativity about emerging market stocksso it makes sense for long-term, value-oriented investors to rebalance into the asset class. Heres why a systematically contrarian strategy like fundamentally weighted indexing might outperform.
The High Cost of Equal Weighting
Equal-weight indices have two clear advantages: They are easy to understand, and they generally outperform cap-weight indices over the long term. Their drawbacks are less apparent. They have higher turnover due to rebalancing than other smart beta strategies, and that turnover includes buying and selling lower-liquidity stocks. Our market impact model demonstrates that, as global assets under management increase, implementation costs tend to rise faster in equal-weight than in fundamentally weighted strategies.
The High Cost of Equal Weighting
Equal-weight indices have two clear advantages: They are easy to understand, and they generally outperform cap-weight indices over the long term. Their drawbacks are less apparent. They have higher turnover due to rebalancing than other smart beta strategies, and that turnover includes buying and selling lower-liquidity stocks. This article summarizes what we have learned about the relative performance of equal-weight indices before and after implementation costs.
Slugging It Out in the Equity Arena
Selling recent losers and buying recent winners is the antithesis of the systematic rebalancing discipline through which smart beta strategies earn long-term excess returns. Indeed, we contend that this procyclical behavior is what pays, over time, for the value added by fundamentally weighted index investing and other smart beta strategies.
Ukrainian Crisis: Should Investors Avoid the Russian Stock Market?
This is neither to treat the profoundly worrisome crisis in Eastern Europe cavalierly nor to advocate profiting, however indirectly, from the distress of Ukraine, a sovereign nation whose people have suffered horribly over the last three-quarters of a century. It is merely to caution international investors that, from a strictly financial perspective, withdrawing assets from Russia might not be the right move.
The Profits Bubble
Profits are dangerously elevated by all reasonable measures. S&P 500 Index real earnings per share are far above their long-term historical trend. Industry profit margins are at or near all-time highs. Corporate profits, both as a percentage of GDP and relative to labor income, are at or near record levels. The dramatic rise in income inequality is a direct consequence of this spectacular reallocation of income to capital and away from labor.
Hot Potato: Momentum As An Investment Strategy
by Ryan Larson of Research Affiliates,
Investors increasingly are attracted to momentum as a key ingredient in their portfolios. But how does momentum fare as a stand-alone strategy? In this issue of Fundamentals, we look at the pros and cons of this important risk factor.
Avoiding Pricey Low Volatility Investing
by Feifei Li of Research Affiliates,
Low volatility investing reduces a portfolios exposure to the market factor in favor of other historically reliable sources of equity risk premium.But the alluring risk-adjusted performance characteristics of low volatility strategies have lately attracted serious investors, and many managers have developed products to meet the growing demand.Is it possible to preserve the benefits of low volatility investing when prices rise?Feifei Li, Head of Research, suggests implementation refinements that might make a difference.
Mind the (Expectations) Gap: Demographic Trends and GDP
Demographics provided a tailwind to economic growth in the developed world during the past 60 years. Now, as a result of Boomers heading toward retirement and low birth rates of recent decades, demographics may present a headwind to future growth. This issue of Fundamentals, which is excerpted from a forthcoming article in The Journal of Indexes, explores the implications of such changes for economic growth around the world.
The Risk of Government Policies and the Rationing of Retirement
by Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates,
In late April, a group of leading economists and investment practitioners assembled in La Jolla, California, for Research Affiliates 2013 Advisory Panel. Our theme this year touched on two topics that have been front-and-center in recent public debates: the risk of government intervention and the potential rationing of retirement.
Searching For a New Investment Paradigm
by Philip Lawton of Research Affiliates,
Investment management is supposed to be built on brilliant minds novel insights and innovative approachesor so our training and traditions have led us to believe. We celebrate our best investors, such as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and Bill Gross, and our best financial theories, such as modern portfolio theory (MPT) and the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH).
Financial Repression: Why It Matters
by Shane Sheperd of Research Affiliates,
Financial repression refers to a set of governmental policies that keep real interest rates low or negative, with the unstated intention of generating cheap funding for government spending. The ramifications of these policies will be measured in decades, not years.
The Lure of Hedge Funds
by John West of Research Affiliates,
Investors often buy what they think is exciting, sophisticated, and complex with the embedded assumption that all of these attributes will lead to greater returns. We see this today where we witness the continued explosive growth of hedge funds. But, a careful examination of the data reveals that these fancy lures fail to hook as much in excess, after-fee returns as more time tested strategies.
Does Blame Predict Performance?
by Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates,
As an econometrician and a fund-of-funds portfolio manager, I spend much time researching quantifiable metrics to help me identify managers who can outperform consistently. There is, in fact, a rich body of literature exploring different manager selection criteria. Academic papers have considered portfolio manager attributes, such as tenure, the CFA designation, advanced degrees, and even SAT scores; they have also examined fund characteristics, such as portfolio turnover, expense ratios, and assets under management.
Wait for Your Pitch in Today's Market
by John West of Research Affiliates,
Great hitting in baseball depends in part on waiting for the right pitch. In today's market, most asset classescoming off their impressive 2012 recordare "high and outside" the valuations necessary for future big league returns. Patience is the name of the game today.
From QE to Queasy: Fiscal Policy and the Risk of Inflation
by Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates,
Quantitative easing does not directly cause inflation. Rather, by enabling the government to issue low-cost debt, it fosters undisciplined spending, says Jason Hsu, CIO of Research Affiliates, LLC in this commentary. This spending, in turn, generates inflation, transferring wealth from future taxpayers to the current generation. Hsu argues that Americans are more likely to follow the European model of insufficient saving than to imitate the Japanese practices of private sector belt-tightening, high savings rates, and international lending.
Making Sense of Low Volatility Investing
by Feifei Li of Research Affiliates,
Why do low volatility stocks outperform riskier ones over time? Dr. Feifei Li, our Head of Research and my long-time collaborator, has focused on understanding the theoretical foundation underpinning the low volatility anomaly and documenting the strategy's risk-return characteristics in developed and emerging markets. In this issue of Simply Stated, our newsletter focusing on investor education, she summarizes the literature on the low volatility effect as well as provides additional insights from her own research based on an expanded global data set.
Truth vs. IgnoranceThe Impactful Investment Manager of Tomorrow
by Katy Sherrerd of Research Affiliates,
Ignorance in investing can have devastating consequences for individual portfolios and personal wealth. Too often, capital market participants have little knowledge of how markets work, how to make investment decisions, or how to manage their portfolios. This month's Fundamentals explains how investment managers can add value for their clients through insight and education combined with the quest for alpha.
Year-End Capital Markets Forecast
by Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates,
What looks best for 2013? Given financial repression in developed marketspolicies that prolong negative real interest ratesemerging market local currency sovereign bonds are likely to outperform their developed market counterparts. For equities, both developed (ex-U.S.) and emerging markets offer more attractive valuations and better dividend yields than U.S. stocks.
The Death of the Dollar?
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates,
Rob Arnott, Chairman and CEO of Research Affiliates, has released an "Insights" paper in which he discusses the possible "Death of the Dollar" in the decade ahead. He points out that: "If we're spending $1 trillion a year more than we produce as a nation (the national deficit) and are financing it by printing $1 trillion a year of crisp newly printed bills (actually, bits in a computer), we're on a dangerous path. Printing our own money to buy our own debt works fine until it doesn't."
November Fundamentals
For the second half of the 20th century, U.S. gross domestic product growth averaged 3.3% per year. This growth was driven by a combination of rising population and employment rates and increased productivity. But all three of these factors are slowing or declining. What does this mean for future growth?
The Role of Risk in Asset Allocation
by Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates,
A traditional asset allocation framework allocates to various asset classes with the goal of matching important risk exposures. In reality, many asset classes share exposures to common risk factors and thus are highly correlated, particularly with equities. This article explains how investors can achieve more intuitive and perhaps more sensible portfolios with an approach based on risk factors.
Eggs Are Not Enough: The Truth About Diversification
by Feifei Li of Research Affiliates,
We learn in finance theory that diversification simply means not putting all your eggs in one basket. Simple as the idea is, most investors do not hold portfolios that are even close to being truly diversified. Two reasons make this sensible objective difficult to achieve. First, most investors are not disciplined enough to implement diversification. To illustrate my point, pause and check whether you are willing to reduce equities when the trailing 12-month return on stocks is 20+ percentage points higher than bonds?
The Glidepath Illusion
by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates,
Young adults should buy stocks; mature adults should favor bonds. Or so we're taught. In this month's Fundamentals, Rob Arnott takes a serious look at Glidepath strategies used within target-date funds and comes up with some surprising findings.
Tomatoes and the Low Vol Effect
by Ryan Larson of Research Affiliates,
For the past 40 years, investors have focused on how much their returns varied from both a benchmark and their peers. Given the volatility of recent years, some investors are thinking about returning to a different approach to riskthe risk of losing money. This shift in thinking requires a very different approach to equity investing.
Why We Don't Rebalance
by Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates,
Research makes a compelling case that investors should rebalance their portfolios, yet most investors do not do so. Why not? The answer is less about behavioral mistakes and more about the fact that rational individuals care more about other things than simply maximizing investment returns.
Results 201–250
of 283 found.
