Making decisions that will affect future wealth is daunting under the best of circumstances. And these days can hardly be described as the best of times. Economies are in transition, US interest rates have begun to rise, China’s growth economy is slowing, and stock prices are more volatile than they have been in quite a while. In periods of u...
During uncertain times, it is easy to get caught up in the latest headlines proclaiming a possible U.S. recession. Although many variables such as growth in hourly earnings or high yield spreads over Treasury bonds have been shown to “predict” recessions in advance, the slope of the yield curve remains a powerful indicator of what lies ...
For each parcel of real property owned, the local assessor sends a Notice of Assessment, Taxable Valuation, and Property Classification. If it hasn’t already been received, it is on its way to the mailbox. Printed on the top of the Notice in big, red capital letters is: THIS IS NOT A BILL. So, most people are inclined to throw the Notice away...
Cybersecurity continues to heat up alongside consumer’s growing dependence on devices and the growth of the Internet of Things. Hacking has evolved from the teenager attempting to modify a high school report card to a highly profitable business run by sophisticated groups. As a result, more and more cybersecurity companies are being founded a...
While the public sentiment remains focused on high valuations, research shows the news cycle is focusing on hype and the fear that venture capital is in another bubble. When evaluating the health of the venture market, internal data shows that revenue multiples have been declining since 2012 for a majority of the U.S. venture-backed technology comp...
The venture ecosystem in Israel is undergoing an evolution as entrepreneurs are flourishing throughout the country. In November 2015 there were 6,000 start-ups in Israel garnering funding from a new generation of venture funds made up of both spin-outs from existing firms and new VCs. The combination of a vibrant culture of entrepreneurship, suppor...
This economic cycle has been a long one, seven years without a slowdown. Any other time, people would be near the doors, ready to get out. But this market has been slowly evolving and though many people thought they could outsmart the market over the last seven years, those who took a long-term strategic mindset—measuring success in the capit...
Markets have had a very turbulent start to 2016, and the global economy faces a number of clear challenges. The implications of four interlinked issues—China, crude oil, credit markets, and central banks—are unsettling capital markets. The global economy faces several challenges, but it is continuing to grow, and there are reasons to ma...
Many investors are analyzing how the recent volatility may impact both their public and private holdings. When comparing the S&P 500's performance over the past 32 years with the Cambridge Associates’ median venture capital returns over the same period, you will find an inverse correlation between the two of 28%, implying that as the ...
Overall, the insurance market in Asia remained competitive in 2015, with rates remaining stable or decreasing in most lines of insurance. However, certain lines did experience rate increases and these were generally driven by loss experience, as in the case of the Tianjin explosion in August and its impact on property catastrophe-exposed coverage, ...
Ample capacity and insurer competition generally put downward pressure on rates in most coverage lines in 2015, a trend expected to continue in 2016, barring unforeseen changes in condition. Other significant developments that bear watching throughout 2016 include demand for cybersecurity coverage across all industries, large-scale mergers and acqu...
In the last decade, multinational organizations have undertaken unprecedented international expansion, leaving them exposed to an expanding array of global credit and political risks. And those risks—including terrorism and political violence, armed conflicts, increasingly powerful anti-establishment political movements, the threat of global ...
Despite modest recoveries across most markets in the fourth quarter, 2015 was a poor year for investment returns. While concerns at the end of 2015 continue now—volatility in China’s domestic Shanghai market, rising interest rates in the U.S., falling oil prices, the U.S. dollar’s strength—history has shown that markets ofte...
The markets are off to a rough start this year. Worries about the strength of the world economy caused global stocks to plunge double-digits in January before rebounding slightly. Recent manufacturing data in the U.S. has underwhelmed, the European Commission reduced its Eurozone GDP forecast to just 1.7%, and it’s anyone’s guess as to ...
In nearly every discussion about estate planning, important questions and issues arise. If couples arrive in their attorney’s office having already thought about these issues—including assessing the level of financial management skills their beneficiaries should possess, how to communicate to their children about their hopes and expecta...