BlackRock

blog posts

Best Blogs of the Week #222

Posted by Anu Heda on Mar 14, 2016, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Three blog posts this week including big data, intergenerational wealth transfer, and high yield. All three are critically important for financial advisors today and thus important for the companies serving them.

AB – Tuning Out the White Noise in High Yield – This isn’t 2008 all over again. The recent sell-off looks a lot more like what the market endured in 2002.

BlackRock – What Big Data Can Tell us about the Economy– Rather than relying on a few anecdotal bits of evidence, big data allows us to measure exactly how much more frequently words like “recession” have crept back into use.

Putnam – Making inroads with the next generation – The biggest obstacle to retaining assets passed to heirs is a lack of relationship.

(Image from aforementioned BlackRock blog post)

Straying from a Standard Can Be Dangerous

Posted by Anu Heda on Mar 03, 2016, in Thoughts , tagged with ,

Our clients know we dig deep to unearth findings and recommendations worth pursuing. Sometimes that leads us to cataloging fact sheet data points across asset classes and boundaries (curious to the most frequent MPT stat in Belgium? Ask Mike!) In regulatory materials, there’s not much deviation from the status quo. Occasionally you find something slightly unusual and pause. We’re advocates of the Eaton Vance Fund-Approach-Features start to each fact sheet (like in this Small-Cap Fund). A qualitative description is a good place to deviate and try something compelling.

What is a bad place to deviate? Any $10,000 investment graph. Imagine our shock when seeing the above chart included in a fact sheet.

timothy10yr

What’s your first question when looking at this?

If you’re like me, you’re wondering how come this chart begins at $22,500 (roughly)?

Well to understand why, you need to read the endnotes (located on page 2) describing the chart as showing growth of 10K from inception (Class A – 1994). You would need a chart starting in March 1994 to show the growth of 10K into $45,088.

I can’t find an industry leader that shows a chart like this on a retail mutual fund. The aforementioned Eaton Vance chart shows the standard practice of starting at 10K, 10 (or 5) years ago.

Vanguard and BlackRock exemplify the standard Web practice with different time durations but always beginning at a standard $10/$100K.

Though most likely compliant, this chart feels dishonest in its departure from industry standard practices.

 

Best Blogs of the Week #219

Posted by Anu Heda on Feb 22, 2016, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Three blogs this week spanning wide ranging topics.

BlackRock – Why Investors Have Reason to Be Optimistic – Leading indicators still look okay. Much of this year’s selling has been driven by recession fears.

Columbia – Do a grouch a favor – I believe that fair value for the S&P 500 is in the range of 1800 to 1850. That does not mean that pessimism won’t drive it lower. If it does, there will probably be a buying opportunity.

Wells Fargo – How the price of oil could affect equities – In the recent past, oil and the stock market have moved in lock-step. Many on the equity side looked at petroleum as the canary in the coal mine that was sensing an economic slowdown and telling us just that, which I’m not sure was entirely right or wrong.

Best Blogs of the Week #218

Posted by Anu Heda on Feb 15, 2016, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

Only two blog posts from the past two weeks make the cut here.

BlackRock – A Not So Gentle Reminder of Why You Should Own Bonds – And the recent market swings really bring this diversification discussion home. When the equity market is performing well, you may be giving up some gains by owning bonds, but you’re also building some cushion should stock markets fall.

WisdomTree – Are You Having Trouble Timing the Market? – A simple, well-known adage says that successful investing is all about “time in the market, rather than timing the market.”

Best Blogs of the Week #214

Posted by Anu Heda on Jan 11, 2016, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

Welcome to 2016. We saw decent activity over the holidays with some very well-written year in review and 2016 forecasts throughout the asset management industry.

BlackRock – What I Got Right (and Wrong) in 2015 – I didn’t consider that investors would have to pay Germany for the privilege of loaning it money for five years.

JPMorgan – 5 Realistic Surprise Predictions for 2016 – Brazilian local debt returns 40+%

WisdomTree – Major Central Banks Policy Implications for 2016 – … in assessing China’s growth potential, many focus on old economy indicators and miss out on newer economy signals.

Two other posts were excellent in supporting intermediary and institutional investors.

BlackRock – A Strategy for Managing Volatile Markets –  … we like it or not, emotions tend to drive many investment decisions and this often causes investors to buy high and sell low, which is the very opposite that we need to be doing.

Russell – Exploring the risks and challenges of generating yield – When evaluating strategies, it’s essential to consider where yield is coming from and ensure that potential risks are managed appropriately.