B&K Consulting Pty Limited’s Post

Q&A: While many RIAs still have yet to operate beyond the 60/40, others have already made the switch to alternatives and portfolio diversification, including BBR Partners, The Colony Group, Laird Norton Wetherby Advisors, Mercer Advisors, Osaic (formerly Advisor Group), and Savant Wealth Management. Here are the assets and strategies being used by those investment firms.

We were delighted to announce the expansion of our Discretionary Investment Service in Q2 2024. To learn more about the expansion, Senior Portfolio Manager, Suzanne Berkery, CFP® sat down with Chief Investment Officer, John Mullane, CFA, FCA to explore key highlights of the updated offering. If you’re interested in learning more about our unique approach, the innovative strategy, and why it’s a good time to invest, check out the full Q&A here: https://lnkd.in/etCR4qqA #investing #investmentstrategy #portfoliomanagement #riskprofile #wealthmanagement #financialwellness #discretionaryinvestment #investmentservices

"The Leading Advisors program, which has been recognizing top-tier registered investment advisor firms since its establishment in 2002, is now relaunched with a fresh, data-driven focus." #PrivateWealth #WealthManagement #RealAssets #PrivateMarkets #AlternativeInvestments #Alts #UHNW #HNW #FamilyOffices #IBD #RIA #PrivateInvestments

CAIA Association Releases Report Designed to Help Wealth Professionals Progress From Ideation to Implementation in Alternatives "Crossing the Threshold: Mapping a Journey Towards Alternative Investments in Wealth Management." "This report serves as a roadmap for professionals across asset and wealth management to thoughtfully move into what CAIA is calling a “second phase of democratization” of alternative investments, which began post-global financial crisis. Fifteen years removed from the industry’s experimentation with “liquid alternatives,” an even broader swath of private market products have been made available to a wide array of investors, only this time with improved technology and access points." #PrivateWealth #WealthManagement #RealAssets #PrivateMarkets #AlternativeInvestments #Alts #UHNW #HNW #FamilyOffices #IBD #RIA #PrivateInvestments

Our Chief Investment Officer, Matthew Weatherley-White recently offered his perspective to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Joyce Guevarra on a recent Preqin survey that says family offices have slowed their allocation to private equity on a median basis for two years. Matthew contradicted this data, as he told Market Intelligence that Align’s clients — which include individuals, families, foundations, institutions and advisers — "continue to express the desire to have increased exposure to private equity and private credit." What are you seeing? You can read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ethJCCGG #impactinvesting #privateequity #privatecredit

Recent growth in internal investment teams and models brings #risks for #assetowners. By implementing better #governance, asset owners can leverage their internal teams and models to achieve their goals, outperform benchmarks and peers, and effectively mitigate significant risks. Our Director of Sector Research, paul newfield CIMA® FIAA delves into the significance of bolstering #internalfund management oversight and developing robust governance models. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gPa_hvZm

Internal investment teams + internal investment models = This is a MUST read! It was flagged in some press recently and has already attracted a lot of interest and feedback (despite its recent publication). Please let me know your thoughts? (positive or constructive) or if you are an asset owner, reach out to discuss.

Why family offices are embracing deal-by-deal alternative investing (via Professional Wealth Management (PWM)): https://ow.ly/nK2450SXXEz #familyoffices #wealthmanagement #privatewealth #professionalwealthmanagement

Good piece from James Lowe, CFA and our friends at Schroders. As James says, private markets allocations are "typically made in pursuit of enhanced performance and diversification" When I talk to private client wealth managers in the UK, I get the impression that diversification is far more important than enhanced returns. This makes sense given the typical private client profile. This client is often approaching retirement and very keen to hang on to the wealth that they have worked very hard to obtain. Given the tools available to wealth managers, diversification has been hard to come by. Much of the financial press likes to imply that wealth managers have been putting their clients in 60/40 portfolios. This doesn't match up with the conversations I have had. Many, if not most wealth managers, have had an overweight to alternatives for some time. The issue, in my opinion, is that "liquid alts" have largely failed to deliver on their promise of uncorrelated returns. This is where private assets can help. Whether it be the inflation hedging characteristics of Infrastructure, the floating rate component of private credit or the idiosyncratic return profiles of asset classes such as farmland or timberland. This, combined with new structures (LTAF, UCI part II etc.) that make it operationally easier to access these asset classes is why I'm right with James in thinking now is a good time to rethink the shape of clients alternative allocations.

Around the world, the standard of investment advice is finally improving, and so too are investor outcomes, as portfolios become simpler, cheaper and more efficient. But progress is often of the “two-steps-forward-one-step-back” variety, especially when good firms get taken over by less enlightened businesses that still recommend complex, costly, active strategies. It happens all the time in the retail space when small advice firms are bought by large consolidators. But institutional clients are affected too. In the U.S., for instance, Vanguard’s outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) business was recently acquired by Mercer, a division of Marsh McLennan, and very much an old-style investment consultancy firm. Vanguard's former OCIO clients wisely adhered to the advice of David Swensen and Warren Buffett and primarily invested in low-cost index funds. The danger now, as my Index Fund Advisors, Inc. colleague Mark Higgins, CFA, CFP® explains, is that Mercer will try to tempt trustees with expensive funds of funds and alternative investments like private equity, venture capital, private credit and infrastructure. That would mean higher fees for consultants and other intermediaries but, almost certainly, lower net returns for clients in the long run. Trustees need to stand their ground. #Investing #EvidenceInvesting #IndexFunds #ActiveManagement #Trustees