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The state of corporate profits, balance sheets and valuations make the author confident that 2011 is a much healthier environment for U.S. equities than 2008. Despite the emotional trauma investors experience in these types of markets, the silver lining is that the capital markets are forcing policymakers to confront the core issues.

When domestic safe-haven markets no longer seem to provide comfort, investors may want to consider diversifying by adopting a global approach to fixed income and currencies. Desirable countries to consider are those with better credit quality where higher official rates are already priced in and the currency has the potential to rally.

This is an environment that will see policy mistakes and prompt many questions and likely new fears. But it is one strong enough to produce the cash flows the world needs to fund the pay-down of long-term debt as well as long-term investors' strategic investment management plans.

The authors examine a range of topics, including the narrowing gap between returns on different asset classes, signs of the coming economic upturn, the strategy of alternating between risk-on and risk-off modes, inflation and economic crises around the world, performance of specific asset classes, and innovation as China's next growth driver.

It will take years for state and local governments to return to pre-recession fiscal health. And yet, despite ongoing struggles, financial risks appear to be stabilizing. The mechanisms that state and city issuers have in place – particularly the balanced budget requirement, powers of taxation, and independent treasury management – are working as intended.

Goals-based wealth allocation sets forth the premise that upward mobility is unlikely without the assumption of idiosyncratic risk. And wealth mobility, as defined by keeping up with one's wealth segment, requires structuring a portfolio within three dimensions of risk: personal, market and aspirational.

This research report explains what private equity has to offer, answers many of the questions being asked by investors today and explains why now may be an opportune time to make a commitment to a private equity fund of funds, particularly for first-time investors.

Senior investment professionals look beyond the near term and develop five-year forecasts for economic activity and financial market instruments, including fixed income, equities, real assets and alternatives. Their work can serve as a guide to risks and thematic developments that bear watching by investors.

Investors face choices about how much to allocate across the liquidity spectrum of public equity, hedge funds, and private markets. The author outlines the benefits and costs in providing a framework for allocating across those three levels of liquidity when investing in equity markets for commodity producers.

Investors buy gold out of fear that the economic and political infrastructure we count on when we buy stocks and bonds is degrading. And gold booms inevitably end with a bust. The better strategy may be to build a reasonably sized position in diversified commodities, including gold; play close attention to sound entry points; and rebalance religiously.