We investigate why investors may be willing to participate in active management, notwithstanding that the average manager is likely to generate negative alpha after fees. We model the alpha an investor expects from a dynamic strategy of investing in a portfolio of active investment managers, and...

This paper investigates how the nature of risk changes as investment horizon lengthens, and what it means for investors. Accumulated wealth is analyzed in terms of four drivers: expected return, cash flow innovations, discount rate innovations, and reinvestment rates. This perspective highlights...

Utility functions offer a means to encode objectives and preferences in investor portfolios. The functions allow one to place a score on outcomes and then identify optimal portfolios by maximizing utility. The central theme of this article is that utility functions should be tailored to the...

We investigate the conditions under which life-cycle investment strategies based on age may be ‘near enough' to optimal, focusing on the treatment of the pension account balance and assumptions about risk aversion. We show that dynamically adjusting the strategy in response to fluctuations in...

The agency problems that pervade delegated investment management are exacerbated when investing for the long term, where the payoff is distant and often highly uncertain. These conditions compound the difficulty of aligning and monitoring the agents (managers) responsible for making investment...

We present a framework for deciding when to choose an alternative to passively investing in capitalization-weighted indices within any particular asset class. Five reasons are identified for seeking an alternative. Three of these reflect situations where a capitalization-weighted index is either...

An integrated approach to portfolio construction and performance evaluation is developed to support investment programs based around long-term cash flow projections and associated expected returns. Performance is evaluated by attributing realized returns into components reflecting the initial...