Services Tags: Fiduciary Education

It’s All About the Bitcoin: Dollars or Cryptocurrency?


Flash talk by Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, at Marquette’s 2017 Investment Symposium

What is cryptocurrency? We examine how cryptocurrency is transacted, including how blockchains function, then dive into Bitcoin’s uses, acquisition, mining, and circulation. As an investment, the last few years have shown impressive (and frightening) growth, but we caution investors to be aware of the volatility within Bitcoin and look back at tulips for some insight. There are many challenges and unknowns cryptocurrencies face, and it is still early in the game to determine whether Bitcoin will (or can) become a conventional medium of exchange.

Will the Fed “Normalize” My Investment Returns?


Flash talk by Ben Mohr, CFA at Marquette’s 2017 Investment Symposium

In this session, we review common terms and concepts in fixed income including Fed rate hikes and the Fed’s balance sheet, and explore how each concept can assist investors in modeling bond returns. We also examine potential outcomes of the upcoming change in Fed leadership and FOMC and impacts on client portfolios.

Impact of Policies & Politics on Portfolios


Flash talk by Nat Kellogg, CFA at Marquette’s 2017 Investment Symposium

We recap a year of surprises and market reactions including Brexit, the 2016 U.S. election, and France’s 2017 presidential election in this session. The lesson to be learned from a year of exciting politics is similar to market performance: forecasting is difficult if not impossible and solely making decisions based on current events can lead investors down an uncertain path.

Don’t You Know, We’re Talking About An Evolution? Addressing The New Challenges Facing The Diverse Manager Community

In recent years, some proactive and thoughtful pieces have spurred constructive dialogue within the investment consulting and plan sponsor communities on the measurable benefits of incorporating “diverse” investment firms within their various investment programs. In short, a diverse investment manager can be defined as a firm that is women owned, minority owned, or a combination of the two.

This newsletter strives to enhance the ongoing series of constructive discussions and solutions featuring Marquette, the diverse investment manager community, and the plan sponsors who wish to advance diverse manager initiatives. It is Marquette’s view that broader conversations about the diverse manager community should deliberately acknowledge the existence of newer structural headwinds that diverse managers face in today’s market. By focusing on these material hurdles – some of which are highlighted in this newsletter – the plan sponsor, diverse manager and consultant communities will be in a stronger position to formulate practical solutions to these challenges.

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High Yield Position Paper

Originally released in June 2011, this update to our position paper clarifies the myths about the asset class, and sheds light on the benefits and risks of high yield bonds.

The paper examines the history of high yield bond issuance, features of high yield bonds and their indices, their risks and characteristics, high yield historical returns and correlations, and how to invest in high yield bonds including relative valuation and manager selection.

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ESG Stewardship for Defined Contribution Plan Fiduciaries

Defined contribution plans have increasingly adopted features that encourage participation and retirement readiness — from automatic enrollment to target date funds. Consideration of environmental, social and governance issues within defined contribution plans has also gained momentum as a way for plan sponsors to engage participants and mitigate risks for the investor. Plan sponsors are now challenged with determining whether to incorporate ESG considerations into the stewardship of defined contribution plans — and how to best go about doing so.

Please join us for the third webinar in our defined contribution guidance series, a discussion on ESG stewardship. This session will cover key topics from our recently published paper, Bracing for Impact: How to Prepare for the Next Generation of Defined Contribution Plans.

Attendees will be briefed on:

  • ESG issues and relevance
  • Clarification of fiduciary duties
  • Materiality of ESG factors
  • Demographic shifts — the rise of millennials
  • Getting started with ESG
  • Top 5 reasons to add ESG to DC plans

 

Live Webinar – Wednesday, May 24, 2017 – 1:00-1:45 PM CT

Please contact us for access to this video.

Bracing for Impact: How to Prepare for the Next Generation of Defined Contribution Plans

As defined benefit plans continue to grapple with funding issues, defined contribution plans have emerged as the primary vehicle for retirement savings. In recent years we have seen increased adoption of features that encourage participation in such plans, such as automatic enrollment, as well as the emergence of options that better prepare participants for retirement, such as target date funds. Consideration of ESG issues — that’s environmental, social, and governance — within the participant-directed, defined contribution plan structure has also gained momentum as a way for plan sponsors to engage with their participants and mitigate risks for the investor. Plan sponsors are now tasked with the challenge of determining whether and how to best incorporate ESG considerations into the stewardship of defined contribution plans.

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