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Income investing in multi-asset portfolios: Tipping the balance in your favour
Income can play a crucial role in the pursuit of investment objectives over time, but research from our iStrat Team argues for a balanced approach to asset allocation decisions given the potential trade-offs between income and capital return, risk, and portfolio diversification.
Whitepaper
2024-09-30
Role, risk, and residual alpha: A framework for manager research
With many asset owners revisiting their strategic asset allocation and considering changes in their investment line-up, Director of Manager Research Kat Price and Head of Multi-Asset Strategy Adam Berger offer their views on manager selection best practices.
Article
2024-08-31
Core fixed income: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before
Head of Multi-Asset Strategy – Insurance and Portfolio Manager Tim Antonelli updates insurers on the status of the market today, shares what he believes they can expect for the rest of the year, and identifies areas that may be worth a closer look.
Article
2024-07-31
2023 Mid-year Investment Strategy Outlook
To help think through the asset allocation outlook and implications for 2023, we offer views from iStrat, our investment strategy and solutions group
Article
2024-06-30
Multi-Asset Outlook: A recession is looming…or is it?
The economy has largely shrugged off the banking crisis and other concerns this year, while riding positive sentiment driven by AI enthusiasm and a possible soft landing. Members of our Investment Strategy team offer their macro and market outlook for the second half of the year, including their latest views on equities, bonds, and commodities.
Article
2024-07-31
How to weather the storm: A roadmap for more resilient portfolios
As we face a new era of elevated market and cycle volatility, Co-Head of Investment Strategy Natasha Brook-Walters assesses how asset owners can ensure that their portfolios are up for the challenge.
Article
2024-07-31
How a thematic approach can help harness change within portfolios
Multi-Asset Strategist Supriya Menon and Investment Director Andrew Sharp-Paul discuss why a thematic approach can help harness change within portfolios against a structurally different macroeconomic backdrop.
Article
2024-07-31
Mind the liquidity (and cost) gap: Revisiting a plan’s hedge-ratio approach
Members of our LDI Team take a fresh look at the process of setting and managing liability hedge ratio targets, including liquidity considerations that are top of mind today and the implementation toolkit.
Article
2025-06-30
Is your asset allocation ready for the realities of climate change?
Our Investment Strategy Team shares key findings from the research behind their climate-aware strategic asset allocation (SAA) approach, including challenges and trade-offs that asset owners should understand.
Quick Take
2025-06-30
Focus on what you can control: Five alternative investment ideas for an uncertain world
Multi-Asset Strategists Nick Samouilhan and Adam Berger explain how a variety of alternative investments, including select hedge funds and private credit, could help allocators reduce the importance of the economic cycle to their portfolio results.
Article
2024-06-30
Time for a new playbook on bonds
Is it time to add to fixed income allocations? Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger and Fixed Income Strategist Amar Reganti offer their views, as well as thoughts on specific areas of opportunity.
Article
2024-05-31
Is the structural case for inflation still intact?
Even if inflation cools in the coming months, members of our Investment Strategy team expect it to be "stickier" over the long term. Find out how that might impact asset allocation decisions.
Quick Take
2024-05-31
EM equities: Can they prove the doubters wrong?
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger offers six reasons that EM equity performance could be much more compelling in the decade ahead, from attractive valuations to economic tailwinds to mean reversion in the US dollar.
Article
2024-05-31
Closing the return gap: A new set of “stepping stone” ideas
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger offers incremental, flexible investment ideas that can be combined to help asset owners pursue their goals amid declining capital market return expectations.
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Whitepaper
2024-08-02
The alpha equation: Balancing active risk sources in multi-asset portfolios
Members of our iStrat Team share their research on the process of deciding how much active risk to take at the asset class and security levels in pursuit of alpha objectives. They also offer a step-by-step framework for implementing the research findings.
Whitepaper
2024-04-30
Today’s sweet spot for yield, the growing role of alts
Insurance Multi-Asset Strategist Tim Antonelli provides his latest multi-asset views for insurers, with an emphasis on the value of core fixed income in today's environment.
Whitepaper
2023-10-15
Win by losing? The surprising truth about long-term active management
Research shows that even the best managers have had to bounce back from periods of underperformance. For asset owners who've invested time and effort to find these managers, the data argues for cultivating a long-term mindset.
Quick Take
2024-04-30
Designing a climate-aware strategic asset allocation
Members of our Investment Strategy Team explain how they incorporate climate metrics into their asset allocation optimization process. They also discuss implementation — the choice of specific climate-aware building blocks and strategies to express the desired asset allocation.
Whitepaper
2024-04-30
Putting the global economy to the test
With economic and market fault lines emerging as a result of higher interest rates, members of our Investment Strategy team reassess the investment landscape and offer their views on equities, fixed income, and commodities.
Article
2023-10-31
Using market-implied regimes to help build more resilient portfolios
Markets may fluctuate between different regimes, but how exactly should those regimes be defined? Our iStrat Team offers research on their market behavior-based approach and explains how it may aid in constructing portfolios that are better able to withstand the ups and downs of different environments.
Article
2024-03-31
On to the next crisis: Glimpsing a post-SVB world
Amid the turmoil in the US banking sector, Global Investment Strategist Nanette Abuhoff Jacobson suggests investors consider pivoting to a “risk-management mode” that favors higher-quality assets. (Published 14 March 2023)
Quick Take
2024-03-31
SVB collapse: What are the implications?
Multi-Asset Strategist Supriya Menon shares her latest perspectives on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group (SVB) and the unfolding implications for investors. (Published 14 March 2023)
Quick Take
2024-03-31
More currency volatility ahead: Which hedges could help?
To help investors begin to think about elevated currency risk, as well as opportunities to generate alpha through active currency management, members of our iStrat Team offer an overview of hedging approaches and their potential tradeoffs.
Quick Take
2024-02-29
The churning tides of portfolio liquidity: How to avoid being left high and dry
Markets have sent asset owners some strong reminders of the need to think about liquidity risk across a portfolio and to plan for uncertainty. To help, Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger proposes a framework based on the intended uses and sources of liquidity.
Article
2024-02-29
EM evolution: New paths in equity portfolio construction
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger offers a framework for structuring EM equity portfolios, with a focus on "EM 3.0" — differentiated active strategies that have less reference to cap-weighted benchmarks and may be more diversifying in a portfolio.
Whitepaper
2024-01-31
The denominator effect: Thoughts on the rise in private equity allocations
The sharp drop in public markets has left many asset owners with above-target exposure to private assets, raising a number of governance questions. Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger considers the likely responses and their potential pros and cons.
Article
2024-02-29
An allocator’s playbook for 2023
Natasha Brook-Walters, co-head of iStrat, examines the three objectives allocators may wish to focus on in 2023.
Video
2023-12-31
Multi-Asset Outlook — A rocky road to recovery in 2023
Markets may be jumping the gun when it comes to expectations for a policy pivot and the likely risk-asset rewards. Members of our Investment Strategy team still see bumps in the economic road, though their outlook has brightened a bit when it comes to China and other emerging markets.
Article
2024-07-31
Adding thematic equity investments to a multi-asset portfolio: An allocator’s handbook
Thematic investing may add a powerful return engine to portfolios, but allocators sometimes struggle with implementation decisions. Members of our Investment Strategy Team offer a framework for thinking about allocation size, strategy selection, and performance evaluation.
Whitepaper
2024-01-31
LDI in 2023: Ten questions corporate plan sponsors are asking
Members of our LDI Team address a range of topics that US corporate plans will be thinking about in the coming year, from the investment implications of pension accounting changes to the role of alternatives in a return-seeking portfolio.
Article
2023-12-31
2023 Insurance Outlook: Resolve to solve with a restocked toolkit
Multi-Asset Strategist Tim Antonelli and Insurance Strategist Max Davies share four actionable ideas designed to help insurers successfully navigate 2023.
Whitepaper
2023-12-31
Integrating climate change into capital market assumptions: our approach and findings
Members of our Investment Strategy team explain how they are incorporating climate-related inputs, including physical and transition risks, into their capital market assumptions and outline the impact of these changes at the asset-class level.
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Article
2024-01-31
Pivoting from innovation and growth to stability and value
In a more volatile world, stability may take priority over innovation, and that, explains Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger, would tend to favor value stocks over growth stocks.
Quick Take
2023-12-31
Opportunity in disguise: Why bad news may be good for alternatives in 2023
Multi-Asset Strategists Nick Samouilhan and Adam Berger explain how alternative investments may help allocators make tailwinds out of macro and market headwinds in the year ahead.
Article
2023-12-31
Multi-Asset Outlook — Higher rates for longer: What does it mean for markets?
For central banks, the inflation fight is on, but the policy and market responses will vary in the coming months. Nanette Abuhoff Jacobson and Supriya Menon discuss the implications for equities, bonds, and commodities.
Article
2023-11-30
Pivot points: Five portfolio positioning ideas for the new market regime
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger looks at five ways in which the world may be very different in the coming decade and how they could influence the next wave of investment winners.
Article
2023-12-31
Wellington investor survey: inflationary Europe seen as top “problem child” of 2023
In the latest Wellington investor survey, inflationary Europe was seen as the top "problem child" of 2023.
Quick Take
2023-11-30
Thematic investing: Long-term thinking for a short-term world
With economic conditions expected to remain volatile in the coming year, members of our Investment Strategy team suggest that thematic allocations may help reduce the importance of the cycle to portfolio returns.
Article
2023-12-31
Inflation, rates, and volatility: The best defense is a good offense
Insurance Strategist Tim Antonelli shares his latest multi-asset views for insurers, including the need to balance defensive portfolio strategies with continued income and return generation.
Whitepaper
2023-04-15
A practical guide to addressing Asian insurers’ interest-rate risk
Insurance Strategist Max Davies and ALM & Regulatory Capital Strategist Francisco Sebastian examine how diversification may help Asia's life insurers to better manage their exposure to interest-rate risk.
Whitepaper
2023-11-30
The road less traveled: An insurer’s path to investing in alternatives
Insurance Multi-Asset Strategist Tim Antonelli lays out a sturdy yet flexible framework to help global insurers navigate the alternative investments space.
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Article
2023-09-30
2022 Asia Pacific Investment Forum: The energy complex
What do the rapidly accelerating tensions in the energy and commodity complex mean for investors? Discover three expert insights from our 2022 Asia Investment Forum.
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Video
2023-09-30
The shifting equity/bond correlation: Implications for portfolio construction
Multi-Asset Strategist Nick Samouilhan looks at what's driving the change in the all-important equity/bond relationship and what can be done about it.
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Quick Take
2023-09-30
Has China’s investment landscape permanently shifted?
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger and Macro Strategist Santiago Millán consider key policy-related questions hanging over the Chinese market and share some near- and long-term investment views.
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Article
2023-08-31
High inflation and slow growth in Europe: How should investors respond?
Multi-Asset Strategist Supriya Menon explores the asset allocation implications of high inflation and slow growth in Europe.
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Article
2023-08-31
Cash-balance liabilities: A new investment framework
A cash-balance plan is very different from a traditional pension, and the differences can have a major impact on interest-rate sensitivity. With this in mind, we propose a focus on capital preservation, consistent income, and liquidity.
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Article
2023-08-31
Is the commodities rally built to last?
Commodities were the only major asset class that performed well in the first half of 2022. Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger and Commodities Portfolio Manager David Chang consider whether there’s more upside from here.
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Article
2023-08-31
What can history teach us about today's markets? A framework for drawing comparisons
Members of our Investment Strategy Group explain how they identify similarities to past market environments and what their approach is signaling about today's conditions.
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Quick Take
2022-11-30
Will the Fed send the US economy into a recession?
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger and US Macro Strategist Juhi Dhawan consider the broad impact of Fed rate hikes and how asset allocators should respond.
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Article
2023-07-31
Insurers: Strengthen your core in the second half
Insurance Multi-Asset Strategist Tim Antonelli shares his latest multi-asset insights for global insurers, including his view that core fixed income holdings — US interest rates and investment-grade corporate bonds — should stack up well against most risk assets in the second half of 2022.
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Article
2022-12-31
Mid-2022 Asset Allocation & Investment Strategy Outlook
We explore the market implications of central bank policies, rising prices, and slowing growth and offer incremental steps to improving a portfolio’s return potential.
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Article
2023-07-31
Stepping-stone investment ideas: A bridge over troubled waters?
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger offers incremental investment ideas that may help asset owners improve a portfolio's return potential.
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Quick Take
2022-10-31
Sticky inflation, weaker growth: A volatile mix
As central bank policy, rising prices, and slowing growth roil the markets, Nanette Abuhoff Jacobson and Supriya Menon explore the implications for equities, bonds, and commodities.
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Article
2022-10-31
Climate from the allocator's perspective
How do different asset allocators within Wellington incorporate climate change into their investment process as markets, data and regulation continue to evolve?
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Event replay
2023-05-31
Making the money last: Research insights on the decumulation challenge
Our Investment Strategy team considers the unique challenges of decumulation strategies, including sequencing and longevity risk, and offers thoughts on best practices in portfolio construction, process design, and implementation.
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Quick Take
2023-04-30
Demystifying decumulation: A practical guide
Investors seeking a sound decumulation strategy must consider a host of variables, including risks that weren’t on the radar when they were accumulating assets. Members of our Investment Strategy team consider the interaction between portfolio withdrawals and specific characteristics of the portfolio’s realized return. They also offer thoughts on successful decumulation strategies, focusing on portfolio construction, process design, and implementation.
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Article
2023-04-30
Nobody’s perfect: The case for a long-term strategy in active management
While many asset owners recognize the value of a long-term mindset, it can be challenging to resist short-term instincts in volatile environments like the one we’ve seen in recent months. But asset owners who have a strategy to help them stay focused on the long term may avoid a number of potentially costly behaviors, including abandoning a thoughtfully selected allocation to a manager after a relatively short period of underperformance.
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Quick Take
2023-05-02
When will US federal deficits matter?
Now that the Federal Reserve has moved into tightening mode, it’s worth asking when the US deficits and overall debt could become a source of worry. As long as interest rates stay reasonably low without driving persistently high inflation, I believe deficits and the debt won’t matter too much to the economy or markets. The debt won’t be painful to finance and can continue to grow — within reason. In fact, if economic growth is higher than the interest rate on government borrowing, it’s possible for debt to GDP to shrink even amid sizeable deficits.
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Quick Take
2022-07-31
Nearing the finish line: Ideas on end-state investing for corporate DB plans
As corporate plans approach their fully funded “end state,” new goals will need to be set. Members of our LDI team share their research on this transition and the required realignment of asset allocation strategies, including changes in return-seeking and liability-hedging portfolios and key liquidity considerations.
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Article
2023-04-30
A US insurer’s roadmap for navigating the new RBC regs
With the NAIC’s latest revisions to risk-based capital (RBC) charges now on the books, what should US insurers be focused on moving forward? And how have the relative value propositions across fixed income assets and other investments changed as a result? Multi-Asset Insurance Strategist Tim Antonelli and Investment Specialist Geoff Austein-Miller share their views and insights.
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Whitepaper
2023-03-31
For markets, it’s complicated
As markets grapple with the war in Ukraine, inflation worries, and a host of other issues, Nanette Abuhoff Jacobson and Daniel Cook offer their thoughts on the investment implications for equities, commodities, and fixed income.
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Article
2022-10-31
Macro survey: Nervous about China
Respondents to our latest internal survey think the markets may be complacent about risks in China and emerging markets more broadly.
Every quarter for the past six years, the Wisdom of Wellington team has surveyed around 100 of our Wellington colleagues across different investment disciplines and locations to get their views on what we see as the key macro questions of the day. The results can pinpoint where the firm’s views differ from the consensus and can also reveal significant shifts in our collective thinking.
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Quick Take
2023-02-28
What if…? Contemplating five big questions for 2022
Could there be policy, inflation, or market surprises in 2022? Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger weighs the possibilities and the portfolio implications.
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Article
2023-02-28
Start at the end: How to size and structure private allocations for corporate plans
How should corporate defined benefit plan sponsors think about the private allocation decision? Members of our LDI and Alternatives teams propose a “start where you want to end up” approach that incorporates liquidity and return requirements.
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Article
2023-02-28
Setting ROAs for 2022: A guide for US corporate and public plans
How are pension plans adjusting their ROA assumptions? How do those assumptions line up with our long-term capital market assumptions? Find out in this annual update.
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Article
2022-10-31
Changing “weather” patterns in alternatives and climate
Multi-Asset Strategist Adam Berger offers a forecast on the future of alternative and climate-related investing, with insights on manager selection, public/private allocations, climate-aware capital market assumptions, and a range of other topics.
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Article
2022-11-30
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