This article discusses the definition and determinants of capacity, and outlines a practical approach for analyzing the capacity of equity funds. It is argued that capacity analysis should focus on ‘effective capacity' for the active component of a portfolio, defined as the assets under...

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 propose a portfolio holdings-based method for evaluating global equity funds that decomposes excess returns versus benchmark indices into contributions from six equity and three currency ‘style factors', and alpha. The method is used to characterize sources of performance for institutional...

We model the tax drag from active funds management based on reported monthly holdings of active equity funds. Tax drag erodes 65% of the 0.74% excess return in Broad Market funds, but only 21% of the 1.80% excess return in Small-Cap funds for Australian superannuation (pension) fund investors....

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...

We examine potential sources of measurement error when evaluating the after-tax performance of fund managers based on periodic snapshots of their holdings alone, compared to when daily transactions data are also available. To do this, we compare portfolio return estimates based on imputed trades...

We use portfolio holdings data to examine the performance of 143 global equity funds over the period 2002 to 2012. We find that the average global equity manager outperforms their benchmark by 1.2% to 1.4% per annum before fees. Attribution analysis reveals that the prime source of excess return...

We propose a framework that asset owners can use for making and implementing any decision to manage investments in-house. It involves addressing four elements: capabilities, costs, alignment and governance; with key aspects identified for consideration within each element. The framework draws on...

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...