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Of course, we’ve all heard the term “globalization.” It’s quickly become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary political and economic debates. Just as trade has been increasing and manufacturing has moved abroad, the capital markets have been “globalizing.” By expanding your fixed income investment horizon to include the world, you ...

With interest rates at historically low levels, fixed income investors have become increasingly concerned about rising rates and how their portfolios might be affected. However, rising rates do not necessarily mean negative total returns for fixed-income investments. This paper examines the factors that can affect interest rates, as well as how fix...

The national economy is showing signs of life, state and local tax receipts are on the rise, local budgets are returning to balance. Nevertheless, Moody’s and S&P are downgrading more tax-supported credits than they are upgrading. On the surface such rating actions may seem incongruous with the economic conditions. But, in fact, they are all too pr...

Market turmoil has brought the topic of Minimum Variance Portfolios (MVP) to the forefront. But examined within a broad U.S. universe alongside the closely related Low Volatility Portfolio (LVP) counterpart are investors who employ an MVP strategy appropriately compensated for the relative risk they assume?

This paper identifies four channels through which the shock of a Greek default could spread across the Eurozone and the global economy.

This paper examines several factors impacting investors' commodities exposure and the current sentiment on downside risks.

Emerging markets have been recognized for quite a while as a place where investors can earn greater returns than in developed economies due to higher economic growth, strong balance sheets and more attractive demographics. Although investing in emerging markets remains an area of opportunity for investors, navigating an emerging market economy is c...

Every investor knows about Yale University and the extraordinary success of its endowment portfolio. Indeed, many families have tried to emulate Yale’s approach to asset management, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, fewer people are aware of of the Norway Government Pension Fund. While there are certainly aspects of the Yale Model that are useful...

Each investor—whatever his or her background, experience or training—should employ a systematic protocol in the pursuit of growth and stability. An investment process should embody an investment philosophy. Grounded by best practices, this philosophy should stem from a set of beliefs that prescribe how to generate superior risk-adjusted returns in ...

Understanding the exposures involved with direct private equity investing as well as the insurance solutions to address those exposures is essential when implementing a direct private equity investment strategy for family offices.

The goals-based investing framework utilizes Abraham Maslow's “hierarchy of needs” approach by defining, quantifying and prioritizing financial goals across multiple family generations. The brilliance of this process is that it recognizes something very fundamental about our financial behavior: We assign different levels of priority to different go...

In this issue of Eton’s Investment Outlook, the firm describes how Modern Portfolio Theory has ruled the financial seas for the past 60 years, its shortcomings, and why they view goals-based investing as a better framework.

Historically, institutional investors have searched new areas for investments that add return and reduce risk, particularly in today’s volatile and synchronized global financial markets. One area that is coming into focus, with low institutional investment thus far is agriculture. At the same time investor interest grows, the need for capital by ag...

Family foundati ons and their investment advisors are increasingly exploring frameworks, working relati onships and investment portf olios designed to align investment strategy and implementati on with the mission and values of the philanthropic organizati on. Investi ng for fi nancial return and giving for charitable return originated as disparat...

Sustainability has become a hallmark of market leaders. While sustainability is hard to measure, it has clearly become a prime concern of corporate management and we believe that it has reached a point where no prudent investor can ignore it.