A simple ratchet-style "safe" withdrawal rate approach, where spending is increased by 10% any time the portfolio rises more than 50% above its starting value, beats the traditional 4% rule, generating equal or better retirement spending, even while being conservative enough to not require a spending cut in the event of a market pullback in the future.

This is a special interest subsection of our wider Perspectives library in which we present research and opinion about lifecycle investing issues.

The current focus on the downpour in Greece is understandable. But we should not be so distracted that we fail to prepare for two other possible storms – and the possibility that they converge into a perfect storm.

As always, PortfolioConstruction Forum Symposium is the highlight of my year in terms of professional development. This year's was probably the best to date. Here are the key takeouts I sent to my clients.

PortfolioConstruction Forum Academy challenges and advances portfolio construction knowledge and wisdom. Open to a select group of just 80 senior, experienced portfolio construction practitioners each year, Academy will enable you to continuously develop, test, and validate your portfolio construction philosophy and decision-making framework.

The collapse in oil prices in the second half of 2014 is very large in a historical context. This paper explores the implications for portfolios.

To maintain "no taxation, no representation" deal with its people, China's leadership seems to be going down a path that'd see index funds as forced buyers of Chinese equities.

A surprise rate cut in November 2014 and investor expectations of further easing measures have triggered a strong rally in China equities - both A shares, and in the last three weeks, H shares. Can it last?

These are words that I utter with the utmost caution - this time, it really is different. For something genuinely new to the modern experience, consider the curious case of collapsing equity volatility.

Investors often face unknown and even unknowable states of the world. How should we make investment decisions under ignorance?

After more than six years of near zero interest rates, the Fed seems set upon the long journey back to more normal monetary policy. What are the investment implications?

This paper by Rob Arnott and Denis Chaves looks the effects of different age cohorts on GDP and asset class returns.

New research suggests that the best things to do to improve our happiness may lie in NOT trying to maximise our wealth.

EM equities and fixed income enjoyed a boom in the 2000s. Now after several years of relative underperformance, EMs appear to be on the cusp of stronger growth.

The US secondary corporate bond market is in a time of significant upheaval. Changes to regulations has caused a new, insidious liquidity risk.

After a run of historically rapid improvement in living standards in the first decade of the millennium, emerging markets will face a more challenging outlook - not a crisis - over the next few years.

This Backgrounder defines the terms "cyclical", "structural"" and "secular" and provides examples, in order to increase the clarity of debate about what's really driving markets.

PortfolioConstruction Forum Academy Summer Seminar 2015 featured four sessions. This Resources Kit contains the materials for preparing for the Seminar, as well as the presentation slides.

The answer seems obvious. But more complicated forces are at work that have reduced real interest rates far below historic norms and may keep them very low for many years.

It is given that we all are wired to act foolishly sometimes, so how can we be better "choice architects" and "decision reassurers" for ourselves and our clients?