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Would your client benefit from a Private Foundation?Annually, 98% of families with a net worth in excess of $5 million give to charity; philanthropy can be a key element in tax management and estate planning, in addition to instilling a sense of responsibility to younger family members.A Private Foundation is a privately funded and controlled tax-e...

Advisors and consumers often think of variable universal life (VUL) as just an equity-linked product. But for many, VUL is much more than that.This article seeks to encourage a rethinking of VUL as a unique life insurance product that provides control, flexibility and transparency in a low cost product chassis, while providing the potential for enh...

Amid unprecedented economic turmoil and regulatory change, most asset managers have afforded themselves little time to bring the future into focus. But the industry stands on the precipice of a number of fundamental shifts that will shape the future of the asset management industry. This paper will help asset managers’ plan for the future by ...

One primary consideration of investors looking to make an allocation to listed real estate via real estate investment trusts (REITs) today is the impact that a rising-rate environment has on the relative performance of REITs vs. other broader asset classes. This paper discusses the role of REITs in a portfolio as part of a comprehensive investment ...

Helping your children learn to become financially self-sufficient can be one of the most satisfying jobs of parenthood. By “forcing” your children to make choices about how to spend limited resources, you’re creating opportunities to help them find their interests and passions and discover what is truly important to their happiness. The more you ca...

Co-investing is gaining popularity and theoretically offers investors cost advantages and higher return potential. This report discusses the opportunities and common pitfalls of co-investing, leveraging our aggregated data on co-investments and funds generating co-investment.

How and when should wealthy parents educate their children about their assets and potential trusts? Having “The Talk” about wealth is a topic that provokes uncertainty and delay. Avoiding the exchange, however, only compounds the difficulties. Anxiety and reluctance about this conversation are understandable given the many risks as...

From an economic perspective, resource rich ASEAN, with its 600 million consumers is one of the most interesting regions in the world. Yet, German companies have to recognize it and position themselves to benefit from its long-term growth potential. Compared with the EU, the level of integration in ASEAN is still at an early stage. At the same time...

In the past, central banks were able to push short-term interest rates below zero with negative deposit rates but they had limited influence on longer-maturity bonds. When the financial crisis hit in 2007, all this changed, revealing a new unconventional monetary policy that included buying bonds. Since then, central banks have supported pricing by...

Most people typically don’t think about exchange rates unless they are heading out of the country. Exchange rates have been very much top-of-mind during the past year. The U.S. dollar has strengthened, while many other leading world currencies have fallen. The new equilibrium has the potential to affect economic growth and inflation around th...

In 2012, Pershing issued a wake-up call to the industry by publishing Women Are Not a ‘Niche’ Market, an advisor guide that called for greater attention to the needs of women investors. Since then, financial services companies have ratcheted up their marketing efforts to reach women, and many financial advisors have made a concerted eff...

This article takes a look at the current market conditions and how a strong U.S. dollar has weakend the supply and demand surplus of oil.Some takeaways include: Oil prices could remain depressed for a prolonged period, as some petro states have the ability to weather low prices. Should energy woes continue to spill over into stock and bond mar...

2014 began much the same way as investors fervently hid from interest rate volatility. The previous year’s significant rate decline surprised nearly every market participant and commentator. However, during 2014, 30-year Treasury bond yields fell 1.22 percent and provided a total return of more than 29 percent. As interest rates slid to near ...

This strategic white paper illustrates asset flow, industry trends, performance and benchmarking highlights within the hedge fund industry for the fourth quarter.

This executive summary examines economic data for the U.S. Economy, Global Economy, Bonds, U.S. Equity Market, International Financial Markets and the state of Alternative Investments for the second Quarter of 2014.