Investments

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Market Insights

Climate concerns are opportunities for insurers

The latest report from Lloyd’s of London — the insurer that made its name producing products for high-risk businesses — highlights the threats and opportunities climate change will present to corporations. Released on April 28, 2009, the report offers an analysis of risk and opportunity on major issues significantly impacted by climate change, including: Water, […]

By Romana King |April 28, 2009

4 min read

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Market Insights

Waning interest dogs money market funds

Money market funds have been one of the great success stories of cash management. Started in the early 1970s as a way to earn higher interest rates than regulated bank deposits in the U.S., they brought in burgeoning assets from conservative investors and eventually from corporate treasurers looking to get a yield. But the Great […]

By Scot Blythe |April 8, 2009

4 min read

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Market Insights

Income planning case studies

Proper retirement planning requires planning for the worst, so deciding what to focus on in a retirement plan is no easy task. More often than not, financial planners think in terms of accumulation. But, once you switch from the accumulation stage to the distribution stage, the math is entirely different. While you can talk about […]

By Jim Otar |April 7, 2009

4 min read

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Market Insights

Seek a safe harbour

Measuring correlations is one of the mainstays of portfolio management. By developing asset allocations that mix securities with relatively low correlations, managers can maximize the volatility— smoothing benefits of diversification. But what happens when markets around the world are closely correlated? Does it still make sense to invest internationally, taking on additional risks for minimal […]

By Alison MacAlpine |April 1, 2009

10 min read

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Market Insights

China’s changing

Skeptical of investing in China initially, Joseph Tse changed his mind about five years ago and reflects on the lessons of experience. “At the margin, things are changing dramatically,” says Tse, manager of Fidelity Far East. “Companies that we’re meeting today are also dramatically different, new IPOs (initial public offerings); the opportunities have grown by […]

By Diana Cawfield |April 1, 2009

3 min read

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Market Insights

Reducing risk

Risk tolerance is something many investment firms have routinely overlooked. But ravaged by recession, they are desperately looking for ways to create a better risk model. AER spoke with Meir Statman, the Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University in California, and one of the world’s foremost […]

By Mark Noble |April 1, 2009

10 min read

Decorative pattern

Market Insights

China’s Changing

Skeptical of investing in China initially, Joseph Tse changed his mind about five years ago and reflects on the lessons of experience. “At the margin, things are changing dramatically,” says Tse, manager of Fidelity Far East. “Companies that we’re meeting today are also dramatically different, new IPOs (initial public offerings); the opportunities have grown by […]

By Diana Cawfield |April 1, 2009

3 min read

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Market Insights

Active or passive

The mutual fund industry is inundated with misleading numbers. In particular, you’ve likely read an article or two that refers to some study that has shown how most actively managed funds have failed to beat their benchmarks over the long term. The inevitable conclusion would have been that everyone should buy low-fee, index-tracking exchange-traded funds […]

By David O'Leary and Brian O'Neill |April 1, 2009

5 min read

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Market Insights

Alternative matters

At a time when correlations are going to one and every asset category has suffered declines, some see alternative investments – in hedge funds, private equity, real estate – as viable still, but, more than ever requiring careful, educated analysis. Advisor Group reporters recently talked to Craig Asche, executive director of the six-year-old Chartered Alternative […]

By Scot Blythe |March 31, 2009

11 min read

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Market Insights

Debt trap

Last month, we looked at some of the perils of leveraging, using actual market data starting in years 1990 and 1973. Of course, plucking two years out of history can’t reveal the entire picture, so let’s look at a cost versus benefit calculation for all years since 1900, using a leveraging calculator based on market […]

March 30, 2009

5 min read

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