Services Tags: Investment Policy

Retirement Basics Video Series

This video series is intended for plan sponsors and fiduciaries and covers a variety of topics related to creating and managing effective defined contribution investment programs. Presented by consultants Aimee O’Connor, CFP® and Lauren Cellucci, CIMA®, and research analyst Colleen Flannery, these videos present the basics of retirement plans for trustees and investment staff in an educational format meant to provide guidance and insights on best practices and trends in the industry.

The series includes:

  • Fiduciary Checklist, an overview of the roles and responsibilities of fiduciaries including planning, oversight, communication, and documentation;
  • Defined Contribution Topics & Trends, industry trends and recent developments and guidance from the Department of Labor;
  • Investment Lineup Best Practices, considerations and guidance for selecting investment lineup offerings for retirement plans;
  • Target Date Funds, a deep dive into TDFs, from structure and glidepaths to why target date funds have become so popular; and
  • Stable Value Funds, an overview of stable value, exploring structure, important considerations, and recent litigation.

View each episode in the player below — use the upper-right list icon to access a specific presentation.

For more information, questions, or feedback, please send us an email.

 

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs. Marquette is an independent investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about Marquette including our investment strategies, fees and objectives can be found in our ADV Part 2, which is available upon request.

Sustainable Investing Video Series

Our Sustainable Investing video series introduces the concepts and best practices of sustainable investing to trustees, staff, and other investors. Over the past two decades, investor interest and demand for purpose-driven investment opportunities — including various movements such as socially responsible investing, ESG integration, and impact investing — has grown significantly, and Marquette now advises on over $81 billion invested¹ with some form of sustainable approach. The three videos in this overview are presented by Linsey Schoemehl Payne, who serves as vice-chair of Marquette’s Sustainable Investing Group and works with clients directly to implement and monitor sustainable investing programs.

The series covers:

  • Tackling Terminology, an introduction to the terms and concepts investors may encounter when thinking about sustainable investing;
  • Initiating Implementation, an overview of the process of implementing a sustainable investment program; and
  • Compliance & Reporting, a summary of the various methods used to evaluate manager compliance and report on the impact of sustainable investments.

View each episode in the player below— use the upper-right list icon to access a specific presentation.

For further coverage on sustainable investing, reference our recent newsletter, Sustainable Investing in a Post-COVID World, and white paper, The Future of Investing: Sustainability and ESG Integration.
For more information, questions, or feedback, please send us an email.

 

¹As of June 30, 2020. A sustainable investing client is defined as a client that has one or more SRI/ESG/Impact investment.

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs. Marquette is an independent investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about Marquette including our investment strategies, fees and objectives can be found in our ADV Part 2, which is available upon request.

The Future of Investing: Sustainability and ESG Integration

With 2020 underway, sustainable investing continues to be a trending topic, although the concept of incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics into an investment thesis is not new. ESG integration is returns-focused and incorporates long-term sustainability factors into the investment research process to identify companies with higher return potential.

In this white paper, we examine the current ESG landscape, including the various movements that have preceded ESG integration, recent strides by American corporations, fiduciary guidance, and the growing response by investment managers to meet investor demand, especially in reporting and performance measurement. We also present our approach to incorporating ESG into our manager evaluation process and the best practices our team looks for when performing due diligence for ESG-mandated strategies.

Read > The Future of Investing: Sustainability and ESG Integration

 

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs.

Illinois Sustainable Investing Act

As sustainability factors are increasingly being incorporated into the underlying investment processes at the corporate, manager, and investor levels, it’s not surprising that the Illinois General Assembly has taken up the issue in recently passed legislation. The Illinois Sustainable Investing Act (the “Act”), formally cited as Public Act 101-0473, was signed into law by Governor Pritzker with an effective date of January 1st, 2020. The goal of the Act is to recognize that sustainability factors play an important role in an investment’s overall performance and the creation of long-term value.

In this update, we summarize the Act and offer next steps for impacted clients, including:

  • Stated goals and purposes of the Act
  • The role of sustainability factors in investment performance and value
  • The duties of public agencies and governments
  • Implementation of the Act

Download PDF > Illinois Sustainable Investing Act Legislative Update

As always, your consultant will be able to address any specific questions you may have regarding these changes.

 

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs.

Rebalancing Position Paper

Regularly rebalancing portfolios is one of the key duties of trustees and other fiduciaries responsible for managing an institutional portfolio. Asset allocations are set to provide a predetermined risk/reward profile that fits a fund’s objectives and constraints. Portfolios are rebalanced when they drift away from policy target in order to maintain the risk/reward profiles implicit in the original asset allocations. But how often should clients rebalance their portfolios? What guidelines should clients use to determine when to rebalance? And what are the costs and benefits associated with rebalancing? This paper takes a rigorous look at rebalancing and provides some guidelines for implementing a rebalancing policy.

Download PDF >

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs.

 

An October to Forget?

Stock markets around the globe “corrected” in October, experiencing a sudden and broad-based drop. The sell-off was somewhat unusual as there was no glaring fundamental event that triggered the market drop, but rather a confluence of events that all seemed to come to the forefront of investors’ minds simultaneously. These concerns, coming on the heels of a strong third quarter for stocks that left the market looking modestly overvalued, led to an unpleasant month of returns.

Download PDF >

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs.

Socially-Responsible Fixed Income Investing

Socially-responsible investing (SRI) is one of the fastest-developing segments of investing and we see a ballooning trend of true action taken by investors. Specifically for fixed income, socially-responsible investing is growing and a great deal is evolving in the recent landscape, particularly in terms of philosophical changes as well as the development of new products where “the rubber meets the road.”

This white paper explores trends in socially-responsible fixed income investing and assesses the challenges. In addition, we examine the prevalence of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) issues and compare their uses in fixed income versus equities. Finally, we evaluate methods to invest in fixed income for the responsibly-minded investor.

Download PDF

 

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs.

Responsible Investing for Social Impact

Impact investing is one of the fastest growing spaces in the investment marketplace — offering market-rate returns alongside social and environmental benefits.

Please join us for a discussion on creating social impact through responsible investing with members of our impact investing group. Key topics from our recently published newsletter will be covered.

Attendees will be briefed on:

  • The history of socially responsible investing (SRI)
  • Different approaches to responsible investing
  • Impact investing program implementation
  • First steps for new impact investors

A question and answer session will follow.

Live Webinar – Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – 1:00-1:45 PM CT

Follow @MarquetteView for live webinar highlights
Questions taken via webinar or using hashtag #ImpactInvesting

Presenters: Nichole Roman-Bhatty, CIMA®, Managing Partner; David Hernandez, Senior Research Analyst; Courtney Hugger, Marketing Operations Manager

Who should attend: Institutional investment stewards, investment managers

Please contact us for access to this presentation.

Stress Test and Spending Policies for Endowments & Foundations

2013 Marquette Investment Symposium session

In this presentation from our 2013 Investment Symposium, we analyze different spending policy options for non-profit institutions, examine the long and short term effects of various spending policy decisions, and explore how stress testing can aid in understanding the risks of different spending policies.

Investment Symposium 2013
September 13, 2013

Please contact us for access to this presentation.

Portfolio Rebalancing Policy: A Fiduciary Duty in Good Markets & Bad

Live webinar to discuss our upcoming paper on rebalancing and guidelines for implementing a rebalancing policy.

Portfolios must be rebalanced to maintain the risk/reward profile set in the original asset allocation. But how often should portfolios be rebalanced? And what guidelines should be used to determine when to rebalance? As institutional investment stewards, trustees and their investment consultants have a fiduciary duty to set a clear policy on portfolio rebalancing.

Register now to join us for a live webinar to discuss our upcoming paper on rebalancing [*note updated in 2018] and guidelines for implementing a rebalancing policy. We’ll address key questions to consider and discuss in more detail with your consultant.

 

Live Webinar – Wednesday, May 16, 2012 – 1:00-1:45 PM CT

Featuring: Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, Vice President and Director of Research; Nat Kellogg, CFA, Associate Director of Research

Who should attend: Institutional investment stewards, investment managers

Please contact us for access to this video.