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While diversification remains the cornerstone of modern portfolio theory, many diversifying investments followed the direction of the equity markets when they collapsed during the recent financial crisis. This led many investors to suspect that their asset allocation frameworks needed refining. An analysis suggests these investors may be right.

While both exchange-traded funds and index separately managed accounts offer the comparatively low fees and superior pretax returns common to nearly all forms of indexing, the authors say that only SMAs can deliver sizeable return benefits to the taxable accounts of wealthy investors.

Indexed universal life insurance provides a crediting rate tied to the growth of an equity index. With the potential for an enhanced yield and a guaranteed minimum crediting rate, indexed universal life may be an attractive life insurance option, particularly in the current low interest rate environment.

Thanks to dedicated financial infrastructure and full research coverage, local currency debt is now a plausible and enticing asset class. Fundamentals continue to improve even after being tested by the 2008-2009 financial crisis, while supporting technical factors such as increased liquidity and a broader investor base also have increased its attra...

India's private equity market offers opportunities for investors who are focused, patient, opportunistic and agile. Success requires being familiar both with the economy's internal currents and target companies as money is abundant but trust is harder to come by.

High-frequency trading has been the focus of public and regulatory attention since the flash crash of May 6, 2010. Crash-related events showed that equity markets may be vulnerable to strategies facilitated by trading technology. As a result, regulators in the United States and Europe are increasing requirements and oversight for high-frequency tra...

Behavioral finance theory offers some compelling explanations for financial crises, including the most recent one. Supplementing standard finance theory with behavioral and psychological criteria can help clarify investors' decision-making processes and explain the influence of behavioral biases in stock market crashes.

Because certain tax rules are only in place through 2012, flexibility in estate planning documents is important to make sure that your executor can adapt your plan to changing circumstances. And because these changes only apply to federal estate tax, the impact of state estate taxation should be included in your planning.

The Tax Relief Act forestalled tax increases for this year, but the future tax environment remains uncertain. Investors need to optimize current tax breaks while considering the impact of potential tax increases on everything from broad wealth management strategies to leveraging debt for tax efficiency.

We recently have taken an increasing interest in housing and housing-related investment opportunities. While we cannot state with certainty when the recovery will come, we see a road towards redemption and investment opportunities while the market gradually improves.

Municipal securities continue to provide yields in excess of Treasuries, despite their tax-favored status. For tax-exempt accounts, we continue to see opportunities in corporate debt, both investment grade and the highest quality non-investment grade, as well as in select international sovereign debt issues.

The change in market psychology since the 2010 elections and the passage of year-end legislation to renew the Bush administration tax cuts should continue setting a positive tone for financial markets in 2011. We expect an expanding domestic economy, coupled with continued dynamism in the developing world, to set equity markets up for continued gai...

This paper addresses a planning technique designed to allow taxpayers to take advantage of the increased exemptions available for the next two years while maintaining some control over the ultimate disposition of wealth.

President Obama's proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 includes a reduction in the real estate exemption, a minimum 10-year term for new GRATs, and restrictions on valuing family-controlled entities as well as higher tax rates and reduced savings from itemized deductions for higher-income individuals.

Whole life and universal life insurance have been hit especially hard by continued low interest rates. As a result, carriers are introducing products that increasingly shift the risk of future product performance to the consumer. Because of these risks, consumers must make the effort to understand what is behind the assumptions presented by insurer...