BlackRock

A Digital Commitment Within Channel

Posted by Anu Heda on Jan 01, 2016, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

When you look at sites like this, what do you think? I see a firm highly engaged in selling and servicing US plan sponsors seeking input beyond their recordkeepers. I think this raises the bar for everyone else.

Why?

  1. The thought leadership throughout is expertly curated for the audience.
  2. That thought leadership comes in multiple formats: video, product materials, whitepapers and blog posts.
  3. Access to product information is visible but not overbearing.
  4. The site renders quickly and uniformly on my laptop and mobile phone.

The missing component is straightforward access to contacting the US DC team. Make no mistake, this is not unique to AB (see BlackRock and SSgA for examples). Yet, I suspect we will a proliferation of similar DC sites in 2016. Stay tuned as we’ll update the blog as we find other firms’ competing efforts.

2015 – A Year for the Content Juggernauts

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 31, 2015, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

In 2015 we saw many firms accelerate their content production. Firms like BlackRock, JPMorgan, SSgA, even WisdomTree, produced more thought leadership more frequently than in previous years. So do all firms need to produce volume like the aforementioned? No but there is some baseline of “enough” required to ensure relevancy. I’d set that bar at 10 unique pieces (inclusive of whitepapers, market commentaries, blogs, etc.) per month for a credible US retail-oriented asset manager. (Contact us and I can tell you why 10).

After reaching that level, an intriguing question to consider: what do we want our content convey? I believe high-quality content conveys a firm’s investment process and philosophy contextually relative to current global market events, in a tone and style resonant with the primary target audience. Firms focused on RIAs will want their content to convey something very different than firms primarily different channels. The first step towards designing conveyance is to understand current state. Ask does today’s content convey our process and philosophy via a unified tone and do we believe that resonates with our primary target?

Best Blogs of the Week – #213

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 28, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

As the week wound down towards a Christmas Friday so too did the industry’s blog posts. We highlight two posts from last week.

BlackRock – What You Should Know About Convertible Bonds – To illustrate the comparison of a convertible bond’s price to its common stock price, we look at conversion parity, which is the value you would receive if converted to stocks today.

Peritus – High Yield Bonds: The Energy Dilemma – The concern about energy in the high yield market is appropriate for the index and products that track them as this is a large component of the indexes.

Best Blogs of the Week #212

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 21, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

The investment management news is full of reactions to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s FOMC rate increase. Below are five high-quality views and my opinion on why to read each.

BlackRock – Why the Fed’s Rate Increase is Good (Not Bad) News – Read because you’re seeking to understand how this rate and situation is different than previous ones.

Invesco – Fed hikes 25 basis points, signals gradual path – Read because you need succinct next steps for you and your clients’ portfolios.

Wells Fargo – How today’s Fed rate hike affects investors – Read because you’re most interested in a macroeconomic viewpoint.

WisdomTree – What happens When Interest Rates Rise? – Read because you want, no you need, the data

Vanguard – Don’t let rising rates get you down – Read because you’re an index investor that gets all the news on rising rates from Bloomberg, WSJ, NYTimes and want input on rates and bond portfolios

Best Blogs of the Week #210

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 07, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

We took a few weeks between posts but the industry didn’t stop. I counted 70+ posts between 11/29 and 12/5. I’m capturing six here as worthy reading.

Invesco – Four Key Reasons To consider Market Neutral – The Invesco Quantitative Strategies team believes one potential way to buffer the effects of market downturns, volatility and rising interest rates is to add market neutral equity strategies to traditional portfolios, as they potentially offer a unique approach to generating return regardless of the general movements of the equity and bond markets.

Russell – New best practices are emerging for company stock in DC plans – There’s a new world of DC plans, in which the auto-features and choice architecture are the order of the day. In this new world, it’s reasonable to expect that the company stock option will play a diminished role.

Wells Fargo – Why china’s five-Year Plan Is Good For Investors – China’s new five-year plan isn’t growth at all costs; it’s about sustainability. In the past, growth at all costs meant a buying binge of commodities, building cities without residents, and producing air that wasn’t fit to be inhaled.

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