Powerful geopolitical, demographic, environmental, technological and sociological trends are reshaping our world, impacting investment risk and uncertainty and how best to design portfolios capable of improving the financial well-being of individuals.
Traditional stocks and bonds have long been the mainstay of investment portfolios. However, the breadth and depth of private markets increased significantly in recent years and practitioners can no longer ignore unlisted assets. When held alongside publicly traded equities and bonds, private equity, private debt and real asset strategies may bring significant benefits to multi-asset portfolios, providing access to unique investment opportunities.
Wealth management is in a post-product, post-service stage of development – it is now a design industry. In a highly competitive marketplace, where products are widely and cheaply available, offering a differentiated experience means delivering best-of-strategies solutions for specific client needs. This session explores key challenges and opportunities in multi-asset, multi-manager portfolio construction that practitioners should be thinking about, given the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!
With the body of human knowledge doubling in size every year, investors are drowning in data. Yet the emergence of artificial intelligence will increasingly help us manage the problem of cognitive overload. Indeed, such technologies are bringing about a new era, in which the logical and emotional hemispheres of the human brain are knitted back together, enabling a more holistic understanding of the world. The emergence of this superhuman consciousness will profoundly change how people think about the nature of reality – in finance, and more generally – revolutionising the way we manage risk and uncertainty.
The things that make people, people, are also the things that bind our portfolio construction methods together. Investment philosophies, beliefs and biases impact how we implement our technical skills by adjusting not only the angle of our enquiries but also how we interpret our results. As highly trained investment managers and advisers, we are impacted not only by our biases in behaviour, but also by the biases we hold that we’re not even aware we hold.
We humans by nature deal with much of our lives and memories in stories and story-like forms, to be dipped into for comfort and provide explanations. To excel academically and professionally, we need to think taxonomically, organising information in a structured hierarchy. But while these taxonomic processes help us early in our careers, they can also limit our perspective, making our thinking predictable and replicable by AI. To gain deeper insights, critical to long-term investing, we must adapt by integrating finance with other disciplines such as economics, accounting, finance, sociology, anthropology, psychology, sustainability, political science and philosophy. Adopting a holistic perspective can greatly improve problem-solving, bringing valuable benefits to our clients’ portfolios.
Our diverse panel of asset class experts discussed and clarified the implications of four economic scenarios for the medium-term (three-year) outlook for key asset classes, and then the Investment Committee (Summit delegates) voted to determine probabilities for each of the scenarios as inputs to the Asset Allocation Roundtable.
The inputs from the Asset Class Outlook Roundtable determine a headline Dynamic Asset Allocation (DAA) Growth/Defensive split for the coming 12 months, based on the 60/40 Neutral Asset Allocation (NAA). diverse panel of asset allocation experts discusses and debates key asset allocation and implementation decisions with reference to the NAA and within the context of the headline DAA Growth/Defensive split. The Investment Committee (Summit delegates) votes as the asset class decisions are being debated. Once finalised, the Investment Committee’s views (as expressed by the voting) then determine the DAA for the hypothetical portfolio for the coming 12 months.
Multi-asset, multi-manager investment portfolios can be viewed as complex machines that, if properly assembled and managed, provide benefits far outweighing those of their individual components. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts! Strategies Summit 2024 (Wed-Thu 21-22 Aug) challenges and refreshes your portfolio construction thinking by debating contemporary and emerging portfolio construction strategies to help you build better quality portfolios.
The Evergreen Asset Allocation Committee Meeting Aug 2024 (15 Aug 2024) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Continuing Education (CE/CPD) hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE/CPD accreditation.
The free world faces two related threats. First, the likelihood of World War III is rapidly rising. Second, the creation of a coalition of law-abiding nations appears less likely. And investors anticipating significant interest rate cuts face disappointment.
Wetware-powered AI is changing the way we manage risk and uncertainty, including in financial markets. Its rise will also profoundly change how humans think about the nature of reality — in finance and more generally.
Read any book on Complexity Science and the first example of a Complex Adaptive System is the economy and financial markets. Complex systems exhibit "emergence" which means that the whole is always more than the sum of its parts.
Are supply chains fixed or broken? In the second half of 2024, firms are having to deal with logistics network volatility. Heading into 2025, political and regulatory risks provide risks and opportunities for investors.
This lecture instructs IMAC candidates on the diversification benefits and limitations of a multi-asset, multi-manager approach to portfolio construction.
The Alpha Group - Alpha Adviser Forum (25 Jul 2024) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Continuing Education (CE/CPD) hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE/CPD accreditation.
The Mercer Global Investment Forum 2024 (24 Jul 2024) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Continuing Education (CE/CPD) hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE/CPD accreditation.
The Mercer and Portfolio Construction Forum Private Markets & Alts Academy Masterclass 23 Jul 2024) has been assessed and accredited by Portfolio Construction Forum for Continuing Education (CE/CPD) hours. Delegates must confirm their attendance in order to receive CE/CPD accreditation.
