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One of the most common wealth transfer and estate planning techniques is to use an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) to own life insurance policies. This structure enables individuals and families to direct the transfer of assets in a tax-efficient manner from one generation to another for the benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries.As wit...

With cyber theft often in the headlines, it might seem as though it’s not a question of whether your personal information will be compromised, but when. For example, you have likely seen CNN’s estimates that over 100 million Americans have had their personal information stolen and exposed over a one year period. This may leave you wonde...

Market volatility can serve as a reminder of what investors can and can’t control. What is information, and what is noise? What is predictive of the future, and what is just the past? Long-term investors should focus on what they can control and stay the course – provided they are on the “best” course.The best course is the ...

One area of concern arises from large or multi-engine jet aircraft owners and operators — or their counsel — who focus solely on the potential civil liability risks. These parties often seek to minimize potential civil liability by creating a sole-asset company to own and operate the aircraft, which is in turn owned by the individual or...

Clients often hire domestic staff for help managing a large family and household. But for the affluent homeowner, there are significant risks associated with retaining employees such as babysitters, elder-caregivers, and housekeepers, to name just a few. When hiring domestic workers, it’s important to consider and address the risks involved, ...

The decision to sell or continue ownership of a family business is complex. Business owning families who recognize early the importance of both the financial and non-financial considerations of a potential sale are more likely to make good transition decisions.

In this paper, Cara Lafond explores family office characteristics and makes recommendations for asset allocation strategies that ensure growth of assets and preservation of capital and purchasing power, two goals that have been identified as important to most family offices. She emphasizes the importance of downtown risk mitigation and argues that ...

Mercer’s Research Perspectives covers a wide variety of investment topics. This edition includes a discussion on liquid alternative investments, actively managed global small-cap equities, features our new study on climate change, introduces the Chinese bond market and closes with an interview with Stefan Hepp who joined Mercer through the ac...

Hedge Funds in the Current Environment: Mercer believes that now is a good time to consider (or reconsider) hedge fund investing. This article explores the case for hedge funds with a focus on the current environment. Mercer also offers some thoughts on choosing the best hedge funds and how to build robust portfolios.

While once considered “mysterious,” characterized by investor misconceptions and thoroughly debated after the global financial crisis, hedge funds at their core remain a fairly simple structure with a flexible investment mandate. This white paper debunks myths about hedge funds and explains how they generate profits.

Chief Investment Officer David Donabedian recaps the first half of 2015 and provides an outlook for economic activity and financial markets in the third quarter of the year.

An approach to investing called RSI—“responsible, sustainable and impact investing”—seeks to create both financial return as well as positive social or environmental impacts that are actively measured. This white paper explains how families can connect philanthropic vision with investing strategy through RSI.

Impact investing has taken many forms over the years. In its earliest form, religious pension plans used negative screening to avoid sin stocks. Later, environmental and political activists would use shareholder proposals to demand that companies reduce pollution or otherwise improve their operations. Today, Wall Street and investors of all types a...

We face tremendous challenges today. The forces of globalization and modern consumerism are straining our planet’s resources. As production efficiencies increase through technology and human experience, prices decline thus enabling consumption of more goods by more people worldwide. In developing countries, as people migrate from farms to cit...

In a year of notable financial developments, perhaps the most far-reaching and visible of this group is the sharp decline in oil prices in the second half of 2014. Crude has dropped more than 50% since June and is now trading below $50 per barrel. This precipitous decline stands in contrast to a prior four years of relative price stabil...