This report by the World Economic Forum looks at the strategic importance of long-term investing for financial stability and the role of wealthy families as long-term investors alongside institutional actors such as sovereign wealth funds, endowment foundations, pension funds, and other entities.
The consolidation phase for equities appears to be reaching an end, causing Credit Suisse to reverse part of a tactical downgrade from February and take equities to 2 percent overweight on a one- to three-month basis. That rate would be increased if the markets fell further or the outlook for China became clearer.
Concerns about excess government debt and inflation have increased interest in gold and raised its price. Gold is a commodity that behaves more like a currency, providing no investment return beyond price fluctuation. Gold's high price undermines its protective characteristics, making it more vulnerable to declines as monetary policy normalizes.
India is the second-fastest-growing economy in the world and set to overtake China as the fastest-growing one by 2015. The key to hedging risks may lie in leveraging economies such as India's, which has had massive investment in the development of economic and financial infrastructures and offers strong, domestic consumption-led growth.
Families of wealth need to work diligently to maintain online privacy to avoid having personal information go astray or be used against them. This includes discussing the appropriate level of privacy as a family, using network privacy settings, limiting personal information available online, and monitoring children's use of social networks.
Even firms without official Facebook pages and company blogs need policies in place to address potential issues, such as employees' personal use of social media or maintenance of the firm's website. Ignoring social media-related compliance issues can expose a firm to SEC administrative penalties, a damaged reputation, or worse.
Best-of-class medical care can be achieved only if all of a patient's caregivers work together across the continuum of care. It is important for patients to understand what should happen during the four key areas of care – case immersion, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-through – because research shows that mistakes occur most often when patients ...
Long-term care insurance can help wealthy families with a number of issues when a family member needs extended care. These include privacy through care coordination and staff training; improved family relationships with a written plan of care; liquidity and tax issues, and estate planning by allowing gifts as planned despite medical costs.
Socially responsible investing has focused largely on what investors don't do, such as choosing not to invest in tobacco, weapons manufacturers, or alcohol. Socially innovative investing takes the concept a step further by reviewing securities across a spectrum of criteria that weigh both social responsibility and financial fundamentals.
U.S. interest rates are unlikely to spike at the end of QE2 because the market has already priced in the completion of Fed purchases, but moves toward fiscal consolidation in Europe are likely to damp economic growth. Policymakers need to proceed cautiously with normalization as they have little ammunition left to battle renewed weakness in aggrega...
As we progress through market recovery, investors need to take into account three potentially historic market challenges: the end of the Federal Reserve's QE2 and the possibility of a QE3; Japan's problems of demographics, debt and natural disaster; and the sovereign debt problems of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal.
Not all master limited partnerships offer the same level of stability and predictably of current income or growth, and the impact when distributions are materially cut are catastrophic to investment values. Investors who are attracted to the core value proposition of MLPs – income and stability – will most likely benefit from taking a high-quality ...
Real estate can play an important role in a well-diversified portfolio. Current valuations support allocations to private real estate vehicles versus public real estate vehicles. Furthermore, current risk-return expectations favor investments in opportunistic real estate over core real estate.
Valuation-tilted investment strategies offer many benefits of cap-weighting – broad diversification, low costs, transparency and modest turnover – plus the benefit of the value-premium phenomenon. And unlike traditional passive approaches, these strategies incorporate all stocks, differentiate across the valuation spectrum, and respond to changes i...
Facebook can be a great way to connect with friends and family, grow a business, and send invitations to events. But be wary and protect yourself with stringent security settings. Don't give out password clues or information about the year or place of your birth, vacation plans, or home address. And never use Facebook as a confessional.