Many debates in defined contribution (DC) circles focus on fees, new asset classes, and ever more complex solutions. But the biggest improvement available to plan participants may come from something far simpler: how their fixed income is managed.
A tidal wave of conversions has siphoned an unprecedented amount of capital out of mutual funds and into the ETF wrapper. Last year’s record 60 mutual-fund-to-ETF conversions in 2025 across 31 firms pushed total converted assets past $260 billion, and the past five years have now seen a grand total of 203 conversions.
Contrary to what legal television series portray, verdicts rarely turn on a single moment of drama. They take shape gradually, as evidence accumulates and a broader narrative comes into focus.
Last Friday closed with the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.60%, a one-year high, and the doom commentary about rising interest rates was waiting before the bell even rang. Hyperinflation. Bond market breakdown. Paradigm shift. A 1981 fair-value retest.
Institutional investors have spent years hearing about the promise of artificial intelligence. That phase is giving way to a more practical question: not whether AI can create more scale, but whether that scale can be governed, validated, and translated into better fiduciary decisions. For OCIO providers, AI without discipline is not an advantage.
As inflation lingers and market dynamics shift, advisors are rethinking the 60/40 portfolio with managed futures and options income ETFs.
You are undoubtedly seeing in the news that high earners are leaving New York, Los Angeles, and other metro areas. This does not begin to address the magnitude of the problem. There are dozens of cities that are trending towards fiscal collapse. Indeed, taxpayers are leaving.
With inflation persistent and rising due to soaring energy prices, it’s not surprising that advisors and fixed income investors are revisiting Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). In fact, data indicate that inflation-linked bonds have been among the most popular fixed income destinations, dating back to 2022.
Advisors may need to amend their wealth management or financial planning strategy, if many of their clients work in the public sector, or are based in geographic locations unevenly impacted by government cuts or mandates.
Mamdani called the pied-à-terre tax and the change in the unincorporated business tax credit, which would mostly affect affluent taxpayers, “common-sense measures.” He said the city is working with Albany on plans to administer the second-home levy.
The College for Financial Planning is a degree-granting institution offering various financial certification programs. It provides graduate degree, non-degree and continuing professional education programs for students. Founded in 1972, today it is part of Kaplan Financial and has trained over 165,000 professionals.
The rapid institutionalization of the $3 trillion private credit market has left many financial advisors racing to catch up. While the asset class was once a walled garden for pension funds, the mainstreaming of private debt requires a new level of diligence and education. The shift toward transparency is finally allowing advisors to look under the hood of these complex structures.
The long-term shift from traditional pensions to defined contribution (DC) plans puts employees in charge of their retirement savings—and needing help.
Here’s where I want to start, because this is the point that almost every government debt analysis, including the article we’re responding to, completely ignores. Government debt doesn’t disappear into a void. By definition, if the Government borrows capital from someone, that capital must flow somewhere.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of life insurance policies lapse or are surrendered for cash. The policyholders walk away with whatever the carrier offers. Their advisors sign off. Their attorneys see nothing. And nobody asks the obvious question. Could this policy have sold for more?
You don’t have to agree with Chater and Loewenstein’s “crowding-out” hypothesis or their policy prescriptions to benefit from It’s on You, which will, at a minimum, allow the reader to identify and deconstruct i-frame PR when they come across it.
With policy changes creating more access to retirement savings plans, more workers are saving for the future. According to the Investment Company Institute, nearly 75% of households own some form of tax-advantaged retirement account such as a 401(k) or IRA.
A recently passed law in Indiana now requires some state retirement plans to allow participants to invest in cryptocurrency, setting the stage for broader crypto adoption by public funds.
Asia and emerging markets experienced extreme volatility in the first quarter of 2026 as markets surged in the first two months, supported by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and an easing of the global monetary environment.
As private credit managers mount a spirited defense of their industry to discourage investors from fleeing, they’ve found at least one persuasive argument for why much of the cash they lent to software firms at the start of the decade shouldn’t be at risk.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, about a third of all American workers had a gold-plated pension: When they retired, someone paid them nearly their full salary for the rest of their lives. They didn’t have to worry about the market, or inflation, or running out of money.
Cities such as New York and Chicago are in deep financial trouble. Broadly speaking, they have two options: Make the difficult but appropriate choice to raise taxes and reduce the scale of government, or continue to live in a state of denial, increasing their pension obligations while also promising their residents more services.
Every March people around the country start talking about their brackets. Most are referring to their basketball tournament bracket, hoping to predict the winners and maybe earn some office bragging rights.
A SEP IRA offers small businesses and sole proprietors a flexible, tax advantaged way to fund 2025 retirement savings. With high contribution limits, simplified administration and deadlines extending through tax filing, it can provide a practical solution for boosting long term financial security.
As portfolios limited to public equities capture a smaller slice of corporate growth, private investments are increasingly finding a place in long-term wealth-building strategies, including 401(k)s.
Corporate credit markets have become unsettled about the potential for advanced agentic AI tools from firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI to automate functions across legal, analytical, marketing, and sales workflows, effectively targeting the software as a service (SaaS)/enterprise software space.
China’s $1.57 trillion sovereign wealth fund - long one of the biggest backers of private equity firms in the world - is considering new allocations to US money managers just months after reducing its exposure to the world’s biggest economy.
If it weren’t for the financial industry, in my opinion, the United States wouldn’t be suffering the serious social ills that have worsened in the last 40 years — primarily, the hollowing out of the middle class, and all the problems that have accompanied it and resulted from it.
With liquidity and credit stress in the private credit market rising, we must consider whether the Fed might once again ignore its mandates to backstop exuberant markets.
Last week, on March 19th, the S&P 500 closed below its 200-DMA for the first time since May 2025. The first instinct is to panic as media headlines talk about bear markets and financial crisis events. However, as we will explore today, the data says it depends entirely on the type of break: sustained or brief.
Outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) relationships have evolved dramatically. What once teed up primarily as a solution for smaller institutions seeking a roadmap to improving their governance, strategy and execution is now being adopted by much larger asset owners.
Every financial crisis has a moment — usually identified only in retrospect — when an obscure product intended to mitigate risk spreads through what author Rick Bookstaber called “tightly coupled” interconnections to cause widespread damage.
Corporate pension sponsors don’t enjoy unwelcome surprises, particularly those that create financial strain. Many experienced significant financial stress following the Global Financial Crisis and the prolonged decline in interest rates that followed.
One of my most longstanding and controversial opinions is that the move from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution pensions was a success. It’s an especially unpopular view amid stories of retirees who fall through the cracks and a grim market that is pruning many retirement accounts, if not retirement dreams.
His time horizon is infinite. His capital is permanent. And the rewards, he argues, should be enormous.
This week I sat down with Eric Fine, who manages emerging market bond portfolios at VanEck. I had a tidy interview all mapped out… and then escalating events in the Middle East reshuffled the deck. That’s okay because it ultimately led us somewhere more interesting than where I’d intended to go.
AI fatigue has taken hold of financial markets. The companies powering the AI revolution (Nvidia, Google, Microsoft) were down. The companies that are being (or might be) disrupted by AI, like software makers, were also down.
In investing and life, spending your time on critical variables and what is really important directionally pays dividends. AI can legitimately reduce “task time” in the investment business, but it does not replace experience and judgement. Not having double-digit bodies running around also helps one focus.
To stay at the forefront of lifecycle investing, fiduciaries must continually evolving to meet the changing realities of markets, participants, and longevity.
Advising clients through divorce requires both a deep dive into assets as well as a command of the softer skills — supporting them through the emotional ups and downs ahead and their financial plan post breakup.
Corporate bonds are exposed to abrupt downside as liquidity providers are increasingly replaced by liquidity takers.
Four months ago, digital assets underwent what I believe was the most consequential liquidation event in their history. On October 10, 2025, over $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out within hours. Bitcoin plummeted from roughly $122,000 to $105,000. More than 1.6 million trader accounts were liquidated.
To make alternative investments appear attractive, promoters often claim that their products are only weakly correlated — or even uncorrelated — with traditional investments, while still offering competitive returns.
All but unnoticed last month, a bipartisan group of legislators introduced a resolution calling for Congress to keep budget deficits at no more than 3% of gross domestic product. Though not enough by itself to solve America’s fiscal problems, the proposal is a rare step in the right direction. It deserves strong support.
Despite headwinds, ESG ETFs saw a 6.62% growth in AUM in 2025, according to State Street Investment Management.
Gold’s stomach churning volatility – up some 30% in less than a month since the start of the year, only to subsequently lose 20% in a matter of days – has, unsurprisingly, left some investors doubting its role as a hedging asset.
Alphabet Inc. has this week embarked on the next leg of its debt program to meet the voracious funding needs of its artificial intelligence program. Nothing quite signifies global domination like issuing bonds with ease across all of the world’s major bond markets and at a range of maturities, including the ultra-long arena that’s typically reserved for the most favored of borrowers.
Corporate pension funding continues to improve. Market moves over the last five years, both in yields and equity returns, have corporate pension plans at funding levels not seen since before the Tech Bubble.
So, President Trump has announced his pick for Federal Reserve Chairman, and the markets are not pleased. Everybody seems convinced that Kevin Warsh is a “hawkish” pick, and markets are throwing a temper tantrum because they think he might take the easy money punch bowl away.
Municipal credit remains strong in 2026 with high reserves and sector resilience. Still, policy changes and economic pressures ahead warrant attention.
Estate planning often sounds like something only wealthy families need to worry about. The federal estate tax exemption increased in 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)—now shielding estates under $15 million for individuals and $30 million for married couples.
If you play it safe and the fund doesn’t generate sufficient returns, it will require more contributions, often from taxpayers. But if you take too much risk, it could also go wrong and leave the fund without enough money. The task requires balancing risk and reward.
By assessing the macro and market drivers that shape each outlook, we can lay out clear, practical tactics to prepare your portfolio for either path. Whether the bullish or bearish case prevails in 2026, your edge will come from disciplined risk management, not from guessing the future.
Last week in our latest Cyclical Outlook, “Compounding Opportunity,” we argued that beneath the economy’s broad resilience lies a stark divergence. U.S. policy pivots combined with the surge in adoption of AI technology have created winners and losers.
Mathematics in the investment field is almost 100% phony. Virtually all that is really needed are the four arithmetic operations students learn by the third grade: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The rest of the mathematics used in the investment field serves no purpose other than to impress people.
The importance of biodiversity as a nature-related risk in investors’ portfolios has become better understood in the past few years. Investors are beginning to appreciate how complex and nuanced biodiversity risk can be.
The dollar is in no danger of losing its status as the primary global reserve currency, but de-dollarization is chipping away at its dominance. It’s clear we’re moving toward a “multipolar” world where several currencies, along with gold, are making up a growing share of global reserves.
In the investment business, it’s common to address not only what occurred during the past twelve months but also to provide an assessment of future prospects.
In order to develop prudent spending plans for clients that are consistent with their spending goals, advisors should employ reasonable client-specific LPP assumptions. The three-step process and tools highlighted in this article can help advisors get started.
For investors navigating an uncertain macro landscape, avoiding the wrong narratives may matter more than predicting the right numbers.
It’s a brave new world for educational savers — and none too soon. In 2025, lawmakers outdid themselves by expanding ways families can help their children or grandchildren obtain a degree or certificate.
Municipal bonds enter 2026 as a compelling option for investors: attractive yields, strong fundamentals, and structural changes that continue to reshape the market. After a volatile 2025, marked by Treasury market dislocations and record muni issuance, the outlook for this year suggests more stability — and opportunity.
Going public used to be a sign that a company had made it. In the last decade or so, however, IPOs started to become a little … cringe.
Hedge funds are racing to Caracas to scout assets following the high-stakes removal of Nicolás Maduro by the Trump administration. Investors view the potential reintegration of the oil-rich nation into the Western financial system as a historic opportunity for restructuring debt and infrastructure.
SoftBank Group Corp. agreed to acquire private equity firm DigitalBridge Group Inc. in a deal valuing the data center investor at $4 billion including debt.
The sovereign debt of developed market (DM) countries for decades was largely presumed to float free of governance and societal risk factors endemic to the sovereign issues of emerging markets (EM) countries. Global Bond Portfolio Manager Bill Campbell says this luxury is no longer the case.
Participants’ financial well-being is our top priority, and we know that they’re struggling with emergency savings, so we’re offering a way for participants to save with confidence—the Vanguard Cash Plus Account.
CIO Sean Taylor reviews a year of strong performance across key Emerging Markets and Asia and looks ahead to robust investment opportunities in 2026.
In this year-end reflection, we eschew the typical theater of market predictions to instead examine the "knew-it-all-along" effect and the cognitive illusions that make past volatility seem orderly.
One of the most important roles of a financial advisor is to help retired clients determine how much they can afford to spend each year. It might be a good idea for advisors to ascertain whether their client’s spending goals are actually consistent with a retirement paychecks approach.
A generation ago, a single income could support a family, buy a house and pay for a vehicle or two in the driveway. Today, even two high earners are struggling to purchase a new home.
Today we’ll look at government debt as a global problem because that’s what it is. Some governments are somewhat less profligate, but very few have clean hands on this. All of us are in the mud.
Many U.S. companies now find their defined benefit (DB) plan in surplus and are exploring practical ways to use that excess funding. While emerging legislation may one day allow transfer from DB to defined contribution (DC) plans, some sponsors are already taking creative action.
With macro drivers continuing to reshape markets, Ali Dibadj explores key investment themes for 2026 to help actively position portfolios for resilience and growth. He also explains how asset managers need to evolve to best work together with clients.
I’ve been a retirement economist for my entire adult life, and yet I am continually amazed at how America continues to get retirement saving so wrong. Now, finally, the world’s largest issuer of mutual funds is showing signs that it recognizes a major flaw in the system.
I suspect almost 100% of my readers live well above the “poverty line.” I also suspect that probably 99% of you don’t know exactly where that line is. I didn’t really know the number either until I read the article we’ll discuss today.
State Street Corp. is deepening its expansion in Saudi Arabia as it looks to cash in on booming demand for exchange-traded funds and growing appetite for alternative investments from clients including family offices.
Vanguard, a major global asset manager, is planning to significantly expand its US offshore wealth services, primarily by tripling its team in Miami and growing in other US cities like Houston and California. This strategic move aims to cater to wealthy Latin Americans who increasingly seek to move their assets abroad, often preferring the US for its stability.
The UK and Japan are responding to investor demand to boost short-term borrowing, a shift in strategy that offers governments lower interest payments but exposes them to potentially costly rates swings at the time of debt rollovers.
In Charles MacKay’s 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, he highlights how mass human behavior can lead to irrationality: “They go mad in herds while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”
This article argues that the pursuit of high returns by institutional investors, like insurers and pension funds, through illiquid and opaque private market investments is a repeating mistake that risks underfunding future liabilities.
At Vanguard, we are always working to make our target-date funds (TDFs) better. That means regularly reviewing our glide-path design and diving into specific asset allocation topics to ensure that our strategies evolve with the market and continue to meet our clients' needs.
Sun Life Financial Inc.’s newly unified asset-management division plans to hire about 20 senior executives as it looks to turn a collection of investment managers into a more coordinated global powerhouse.
In the end, it does not matter if you are “bullish” or “bearish.” However, what is grossly important in achieving long-term investment success is not necessarily being “right” during the first half of the cycle, but by not being “wrong” during the second half.
To invest or not to invest in alternatives; that is the question for anyone involved in the business of retirement planning. FAs can help clients navigate the brave new world of customized alternatives, but this is easier said than done.
A small circle of investment consultants played a central role in the multi-trillion-dollar push into private markets, steering US pension funds toward private equity, real estate and hedge funds, according to a new study.
Markets don’t sleep over the holidays, but they do slow down. Historical trading patterns show consistent liquidity shifts from late November through early January.
Investors have poured into gold – but they may also see compelling benefits from a broad-based commodity allocation.
For decades, these institutional allocators took roughly the same approach to managing the vast piles of cash under their control: They diversified by divvying up the money across asset classes — for example 40% in stocks, 40% bonds and 20% alternatives — then stuck with it by rebalancing now and again when things got out of whack.
First, it would mean lower monthly payments, unless interest rates rise a lot. Yes, buyers who stay in their home for 50 years and pay off their mortgage over that time will pay much more in interest than they would have with a 30-year mortgage.
Defined Benefits
The Retirement Hack Hiding Inside Most DC Plans
Many debates in defined contribution (DC) circles focus on fees, new asset classes, and ever more complex solutions. But the biggest improvement available to plan participants may come from something far simpler: how their fixed income is managed.
The Great Wrapper Migration: Mutual Fund-to-ETF Conversions Cross 200
A tidal wave of conversions has siphoned an unprecedented amount of capital out of mutual funds and into the ETF wrapper. Last year’s record 60 mutual-fund-to-ETF conversions in 2025 across 31 firms pushed total converted assets past $260 billion, and the past five years have now seen a grand total of 203 conversions.
Gilt-y As Charged
Contrary to what legal television series portray, verdicts rarely turn on a single moment of drama. They take shape gradually, as evidence accumulates and a broader narrative comes into focus.
Rising Interest Rates: Why The Narrative Fails Against The Data
Last Friday closed with the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.60%, a one-year high, and the doom commentary about rising interest rates was waiting before the bell even rang. Hyperinflation. Bond market breakdown. Paradigm shift. A 1981 fair-value retest.
AI Won’t Replace OCIO, It Will Separate Leaders From the Rest
Institutional investors have spent years hearing about the promise of artificial intelligence. That phase is giving way to a more practical question: not whether AI can create more scale, but whether that scale can be governed, validated, and translated into better fiduciary decisions. For OCIO providers, AI without discipline is not an advantage.
Why the 60/40 Portfolio Needs a New Playbook
As inflation lingers and market dynamics shift, advisors are rethinking the 60/40 portfolio with managed futures and options income ETFs.
On the Horizon: America’s Municipal Default Crisis
You are undoubtedly seeing in the news that high earners are leaving New York, Los Angeles, and other metro areas. This does not begin to address the magnitude of the problem. There are dozens of cities that are trending towards fiscal collapse. Indeed, taxpayers are leaving.
This Inflation-Fighting ETF Is Right for These Times
With inflation persistent and rising due to soaring energy prices, it’s not surprising that advisors and fixed income investors are revisiting Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). In fact, data indicate that inflation-linked bonds have been among the most popular fixed income destinations, dating back to 2022.
Advising Public Sector Clients Through Times of Upheaval
Advisors may need to amend their wealth management or financial planning strategy, if many of their clients work in the public sector, or are based in geographic locations unevenly impacted by government cuts or mandates.
Mamdani Scraps Property Tax Hike, Counts Second-Home Revenue
Mamdani called the pied-à-terre tax and the change in the unincorporated business tax credit, which would mostly affect affluent taxpayers, “common-sense measures.” He said the city is working with Albany on plans to administer the second-home levy.
What Is The College for Financial Planning?
The College for Financial Planning is a degree-granting institution offering various financial certification programs. It provides graduate degree, non-degree and continuing professional education programs for students. Founded in 1972, today it is part of Kaplan Financial and has trained over 165,000 professionals.
Mastering the Private Credit Learning Curve: A Guide for Advisors
The rapid institutionalization of the $3 trillion private credit market has left many financial advisors racing to catch up. While the asset class was once a walled garden for pension funds, the mainstreaming of private debt requires a new level of diligence and education. The shift toward transparency is finally allowing advisors to look under the hood of these complex structures.
DC Sponsors Can Help Turn the Retirement Puzzle into a Plan
The long-term shift from traditional pensions to defined contribution (DC) plans puts employees in charge of their retirement savings—and needing help.
Government Debt: Not What The Doom Crowd Thinks It Is
Here’s where I want to start, because this is the point that almost every government debt analysis, including the article we’re responding to, completely ignores. Government debt doesn’t disappear into a void. By definition, if the Government borrows capital from someone, that capital must flow somewhere.
The Fiduciary Question Nobody Is Asking About Life Insurance
Every year, hundreds of thousands of life insurance policies lapse or are surrendered for cash. The policyholders walk away with whatever the carrier offers. Their advisors sign off. Their attorneys see nothing. And nobody asks the obvious question. Could this policy have sold for more?
Blame the Victim, Inc.
You don’t have to agree with Chater and Loewenstein’s “crowding-out” hypothesis or their policy prescriptions to benefit from It’s on You, which will, at a minimum, allow the reader to identify and deconstruct i-frame PR when they come across it.
Don't Let State Taxes Derail Your Retirement: What You Need to Know
With policy changes creating more access to retirement savings plans, more workers are saving for the future. According to the Investment Company Institute, nearly 75% of households own some form of tax-advantaged retirement account such as a 401(k) or IRA.
Indiana Law Sets Stage for Broader Crypto Use in Retirement Investing
A recently passed law in Indiana now requires some state retirement plans to allow participants to invest in cryptocurrency, setting the stage for broader crypto adoption by public funds.
Q1 2026 CIO Review and Outlook
Asia and emerging markets experienced extreme volatility in the first quarter of 2026 as markets surged in the first two months, supported by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and an easing of the global monetary environment.
Private Credit's Biggest User Is in an Even Worse Place
As private credit managers mount a spirited defense of their industry to discourage investors from fleeing, they’ve found at least one persuasive argument for why much of the cash they lent to software firms at the start of the decade shouldn’t be at risk.
This 401(k) Reform Plan Misses What Makes Pensions Work
Once upon a time, not so long ago, about a third of all American workers had a gold-plated pension: When they retired, someone paid them nearly their full salary for the rest of their lives. They didn’t have to worry about the market, or inflation, or running out of money.
New York City Can’t Afford Both Big Pensions and Free Buses
Cities such as New York and Chicago are in deep financial trouble. Broadly speaking, they have two options: Make the difficult but appropriate choice to raise taxes and reduce the scale of government, or continue to live in a state of denial, increasing their pension obligations while also promising their residents more services.
Why Managing Your Tax Bracket Matters More Than Your Basketball Bracket
Every March people around the country start talking about their brackets. Most are referring to their basketball tournament bracket, hoping to predict the winners and maybe earn some office bragging rights.
Business Owners Still Have Time to Fund Retirement for 2025
A SEP IRA offers small businesses and sole proprietors a flexible, tax advantaged way to fund 2025 retirement savings. With high contribution limits, simplified administration and deadlines extending through tax filing, it can provide a practical solution for boosting long term financial security.
Is Your Portfolio Missing This Key Ingredient?
As portfolios limited to public equities capture a smaller slice of corporate growth, private investments are increasingly finding a place in long-term wealth-building strategies, including 401(k)s.
Liquidity Mismatches in an AI-Disrupted Cycle
Corporate credit markets have become unsettled about the potential for advanced agentic AI tools from firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI to automate functions across legal, analytical, marketing, and sales workflows, effectively targeting the software as a service (SaaS)/enterprise software space.
China’s $1.6 Trillion Fund Rekindles Ties With US Money Managers
China’s $1.57 trillion sovereign wealth fund - long one of the biggest backers of private equity firms in the world - is considering new allocations to US money managers just months after reducing its exposure to the world’s biggest economy.
Financialization Has Corrupted the Financial Industry
If it weren’t for the financial industry, in my opinion, the United States wouldn’t be suffering the serious social ills that have worsened in the last 40 years — primarily, the hollowing out of the middle class, and all the problems that have accompanied it and resulted from it.
Private Credit Stress: Will the Fed Backstop Exuberant Markets Again?
With liquidity and credit stress in the private credit market rising, we must consider whether the Fed might once again ignore its mandates to backstop exuberant markets.
The 200-DMA Just Broke: What Every Investor Should Know
Last week, on March 19th, the S&P 500 closed below its 200-DMA for the first time since May 2025. The first instinct is to panic as media headlines talk about bear markets and financial crisis events. However, as we will explore today, the data says it depends entirely on the type of break: sustained or brief.
OCIO Customization is Easy to Promise. Here are Four Ways to Know it’s Real.
Outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) relationships have evolved dramatically. What once teed up primarily as a solution for smaller institutions seeking a roadmap to improving their governance, strategy and execution is now being adopted by much larger asset owners.
Private Credit Is Entering Its Musical Chairs Phase
Every financial crisis has a moment — usually identified only in retrospect — when an obscure product intended to mitigate risk spreads through what author Rick Bookstaber called “tightly coupled” interconnections to cause widespread damage.
$20 billion Club: Slow & Steady Funded Status Progress
Corporate pension sponsors don’t enjoy unwelcome surprises, particularly those that create financial strain. Many experienced significant financial stress following the Global Financial Crisis and the prolonged decline in interest rates that followed.
Yes, Americans Are Saving Enough for Retirement
One of my most longstanding and controversial opinions is that the move from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution pensions was a success. It’s an especially unpopular view amid stories of retirees who fall through the cracks and a grim market that is pruning many retirement accounts, if not retirement dreams.
Bill Ackman’s Bid to Be More Like Buffett Is Finally Unfolding
His time horizon is infinite. His capital is permanent. And the rewards, he argues, should be enormous.
Are EM Bonds the Most Obvious Trade in the World?
This week I sat down with Eric Fine, who manages emerging market bond portfolios at VanEck. I had a tidy interview all mapped out… and then escalating events in the Middle East reshuffled the deck. That’s okay because it ultimately led us somewhere more interesting than where I’d intended to go.
QuantStreet March 2026 Letter: AI Revolution
AI fatigue has taken hold of financial markets. The companies powering the AI revolution (Nvidia, Google, Microsoft) were down. The companies that are being (or might be) disrupted by AI, like software makers, were also down.
It’s Not the Cockroach, It’s the Canary One Should Be Watching
In investing and life, spending your time on critical variables and what is really important directionally pays dividends. AI can legitimately reduce “task time” in the investment business, but it does not replace experience and judgement. Not having double-digit bodies running around also helps one focus.
A New Way to Equip Workers for Retirement
To stay at the forefront of lifecycle investing, fiduciaries must continually evolving to meet the changing realities of markets, participants, and longevity.
How to Advise on Division of Assets & Divorce
Advising clients through divorce requires both a deep dive into assets as well as a command of the softer skills — supporting them through the emotional ups and downs ahead and their financial plan post breakup.
Why Jamie Dimon’s Doubts on the Credit Market Are Well Founded
Corporate bonds are exposed to abrupt downside as liquidity providers are increasingly replaced by liquidity takers.
Why Bitcoin’s Capitulation Event Sets Up a Contrarian Buy
Four months ago, digital assets underwent what I believe was the most consequential liquidation event in their history. On October 10, 2025, over $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out within hours. Bitcoin plummeted from roughly $122,000 to $105,000. More than 1.6 million trader accounts were liquidated.
Do Alternatives Pass the MPT Test?
To make alternative investments appear attractive, promoters often claim that their products are only weakly correlated — or even uncorrelated — with traditional investments, while still offering competitive returns.
A 3% Rule for Budget Deficits Would Be a Good Start
All but unnoticed last month, a bipartisan group of legislators introduced a resolution calling for Congress to keep budget deficits at no more than 3% of gross domestic product. Though not enough by itself to solve America’s fiscal problems, the proposal is a rare step in the right direction. It deserves strong support.
ESG ETFs Show Surprising Resilience Despite Headwinds
Despite headwinds, ESG ETFs saw a 6.62% growth in AUM in 2025, according to State Street Investment Management.
Looking Through Gold’s Volatility
Gold’s stomach churning volatility – up some 30% in less than a month since the start of the year, only to subsequently lose 20% in a matter of days – has, unsurprisingly, left some investors doubting its role as a hedging asset.
Alphabet Has Perfected the A-to-Z of Bond-Market Dominance
Alphabet Inc. has this week embarked on the next leg of its debt program to meet the voracious funding needs of its artificial intelligence program. Nothing quite signifies global domination like issuing bonds with ease across all of the world’s major bond markets and at a range of maturities, including the ultra-long arena that’s typically reserved for the most favored of borrowers.
Liability-Driven Investment Strategies for Corporate Pensions in 2026
Corporate pension funding continues to improve. Market moves over the last five years, both in yields and equity returns, have corporate pension plans at funding levels not seen since before the Tech Bubble.
Warsh Nomination as Fed Chair Sparks Irrational Gold and Silver Selloff
So, President Trump has announced his pick for Federal Reserve Chairman, and the markets are not pleased. Everybody seems convinced that Kevin Warsh is a “hawkish” pick, and markets are throwing a temper tantrum because they think he might take the easy money punch bowl away.
2026 Municipal Sector Outlook: Resilience with Room for Surprises
Municipal credit remains strong in 2026 with high reserves and sector resilience. Still, policy changes and economic pressures ahead warrant attention.
How to Simplify an Estate Plan with a Beneficiary Review
Estate planning often sounds like something only wealthy families need to worry about. The federal estate tax exemption increased in 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)—now shielding estates under $15 million for individuals and $30 million for married couples.
What Does ‘Responsible Investing’ Even Mean Anymore?
If you play it safe and the fund doesn’t generate sufficient returns, it will require more contributions, often from taxpayers. But if you take too much risk, it could also go wrong and leave the fund without enough money. The task requires balancing risk and reward.
The Bullish And Bearish Case For 2026
By assessing the macro and market drivers that shape each outlook, we can lay out clear, practical tactics to prepare your portfolio for either path. Whether the bullish or bearish case prevails in 2026, your edge will come from disciplined risk management, not from guessing the future.
Why U.S. Productivity Gains No Longer Reach Workers
Last week in our latest Cyclical Outlook, “Compounding Opportunity,” we argued that beneath the economy’s broad resilience lies a stark divergence. U.S. policy pivots combined with the surge in adoption of AI technology have created winners and losers.
Sham Mathematics in the Investment Industry
Mathematics in the investment field is almost 100% phony. Virtually all that is really needed are the four arithmetic operations students learn by the third grade: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The rest of the mathematics used in the investment field serves no purpose other than to impress people.
A Case Study in Assessing Portfolio Biodiversity Risk
The importance of biodiversity as a nature-related risk in investors’ portfolios has become better understood in the past few years. Investors are beginning to appreciate how complex and nuanced biodiversity risk can be.
De-Dollarization Alert! Danish Pension Fund Dumps U.S. Treasuries
The dollar is in no danger of losing its status as the primary global reserve currency, but de-dollarization is chipping away at its dominance. It’s clear we’re moving toward a “multipolar” world where several currencies, along with gold, are making up a growing share of global reserves.
My AI Is Smarter Than Your AI
In the investment business, it’s common to address not only what occurred during the past twelve months but also to provide an assessment of future prospects.
Use This 3-Step Process to Develop Better End-of-Life Assumptions for Your Clients
In order to develop prudent spending plans for clients that are consistent with their spending goals, advisors should employ reasonable client-specific LPP assumptions. The three-step process and tools highlighted in this article can help advisors get started.
Why Our 2026 Outlook Isn’t a Forecast-It’s a Myth-Busting Exercise
For investors navigating an uncertain macro landscape, avoiding the wrong narratives may matter more than predicting the right numbers.
What Financial Advisors Need to Know About 529 Plans
It’s a brave new world for educational savers — and none too soon. In 2025, lawmakers outdid themselves by expanding ways families can help their children or grandchildren obtain a degree or certificate.
Munis Poised for Strong Returns in 2026
Municipal bonds enter 2026 as a compelling option for investors: attractive yields, strong fundamentals, and structural changes that continue to reshape the market. After a volatile 2025, marked by Treasury market dislocations and record muni issuance, the outlook for this year suggests more stability — and opportunity.
The Return of the IPO Could Spell Trouble for Private Equity
Going public used to be a sign that a company had made it. In the last decade or so, however, IPOs started to become a little … cringe.
Hedge Fund Tribeca Eyes Venezuela Gold Rush After 127% Gain
Hedge funds are racing to Caracas to scout assets following the high-stakes removal of Nicolás Maduro by the Trump administration. Investors view the potential reintegration of the oil-rich nation into the Western financial system as a historic opportunity for restructuring debt and infrastructure.
SoftBank to Pay $4 Billion for Data Center Firm DigitalBridge
SoftBank Group Corp. agreed to acquire private equity firm DigitalBridge Group Inc. in a deal valuing the data center investor at $4 billion including debt.
Winds of Change: DM Safe Haven No Longer to Be Taken for Granted
The sovereign debt of developed market (DM) countries for decades was largely presumed to float free of governance and societal risk factors endemic to the sovereign issues of emerging markets (EM) countries. Global Bond Portfolio Manager Bill Campbell says this luxury is no longer the case.
Vanguard’s Approach to Emergency Savings
Participants’ financial well-being is our top priority, and we know that they’re struggling with emergency savings, so we’re offering a way for participants to save with confidence—the Vanguard Cash Plus Account.
2025 CIO Review and Outlook
CIO Sean Taylor reviews a year of strong performance across key Emerging Markets and Asia and looks ahead to robust investment opportunities in 2026.
When the Future Becomes the Past
In this year-end reflection, we eschew the typical theater of market predictions to instead examine the "knew-it-all-along" effect and the cognitive illusions that make past volatility seem orderly.
How Much Extra Can Your Client Afford to Spend in 2026?
One of the most important roles of a financial advisor is to help retired clients determine how much they can afford to spend each year. It might be a good idea for advisors to ascertain whether their client’s spending goals are actually consistent with a retirement paychecks approach.
What Gold Reveals About America’s Affordability Crisis
A generation ago, a single income could support a family, buy a house and pay for a vehicle or two in the driveway. Today, even two high earners are struggling to purchase a new home.
Global Debt Addiction
Today we’ll look at government debt as a global problem because that’s what it is. Some governments are somewhat less profligate, but very few have clean hands on this. All of us are in the mud.
Kodak Breaks New Ground in Pension Surplus Strategy
Many U.S. companies now find their defined benefit (DB) plan in surplus and are exploring practical ways to use that excess funding. While emerging legislation may one day allow transfer from DB to defined contribution (DC) plans, some sponsors are already taking creative action.
Macro Drivers: Key Trends Shaping Investing in 2026
With macro drivers continuing to reshape markets, Ali Dibadj explores key investment themes for 2026 to help actively position portfolios for resilience and growth. He also explains how asset managers need to evolve to best work together with clients.
America Gets Retirement Wrong. Can Vanguard Fix That?
I’ve been a retirement economist for my entire adult life, and yet I am continually amazed at how America continues to get retirement saving so wrong. Now, finally, the world’s largest issuer of mutual funds is showing signs that it recognizes a major flaw in the system.
Poverty Level Discourse
I suspect almost 100% of my readers live well above the “poverty line.” I also suspect that probably 99% of you don’t know exactly where that line is. I didn’t really know the number either until I read the article we’ll discuss today.
State Street Looks to ETFs, Alternatives to Deepen Saudi Push
State Street Corp. is deepening its expansion in Saudi Arabia as it looks to cash in on booming demand for exchange-traded funds and growing appetite for alternative investments from clients including family offices.
Vanguard Plans Miami Expansion to Tap More Latin American Wealth
Vanguard, a major global asset manager, is planning to significantly expand its US offshore wealth services, primarily by tripling its team in Miami and growing in other US cities like Houston and California. This strategic move aims to cater to wealthy Latin Americans who increasingly seek to move their assets abroad, often preferring the US for its stability.
Bond Investors Are Driving Governments Into Short-Term Debt
The UK and Japan are responding to investor demand to boost short-term borrowing, a shift in strategy that offers governments lower interest payments but exposes them to potentially costly rates swings at the time of debt rollovers.
Private-Credit Fears Are Based on Four Myths
In Charles MacKay’s 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, he highlights how mass human behavior can lead to irrationality: “They go mad in herds while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”
The Pension Revolution Is Better for Savers
This article argues that the pursuit of high returns by institutional investors, like insurers and pension funds, through illiquid and opaque private market investments is a repeating mistake that risks underfunding future liabilities.
TDF Glide-Path Essentials: Evaluating Fixed Income Exposure
At Vanguard, we are always working to make our target-date funds (TDFs) better. That means regularly reviewing our glide-path design and diving into specific asset allocation topics to ensure that our strategies evolve with the market and continue to meet our clients' needs.
Sun Life Plots Hiring Push to Strengthen Asset Division
Sun Life Financial Inc.’s newly unified asset-management division plans to hire about 20 senior executives as it looks to turn a collection of investment managers into a more coordinated global powerhouse.
Full Market Cycles: Half Bull and Half Bear
In the end, it does not matter if you are “bullish” or “bearish.” However, what is grossly important in achieving long-term investment success is not necessarily being “right” during the first half of the cycle, but by not being “wrong” during the second half.
Alternatives & ERISA Retirement Plans: What Advisors Need to Know
To invest or not to invest in alternatives; that is the question for anyone involved in the business of retirement planning. FAs can help clients navigate the brave new world of customized alternatives, but this is easier said than done.
A Quiet Wall Street Force Fueled $17 Trillion Alternatives Boom
A small circle of investment consultants played a central role in the multi-trillion-dollar push into private markets, steering US pension funds toward private equity, real estate and hedge funds, according to a new study.
The Holiday Trading Effect: Timing, Liquidity and Investor Impact
Markets don’t sleep over the holidays, but they do slow down. Historical trading patterns show consistent liquidity shifts from late November through early January.
The Strategic Role of Commodities in Portfolios
Investors have poured into gold – but they may also see compelling benefits from a broad-based commodity allocation.
‘Total Portfolio Approach’ Is Shaking Up How Trillions Get Managed
For decades, these institutional allocators took roughly the same approach to managing the vast piles of cash under their control: They diversified by divvying up the money across asset classes — for example 40% in stocks, 40% bonds and 20% alternatives — then stuck with it by rebalancing now and again when things got out of whack.
A 50-Year Mortgage? It’s Not a Terrible Idea
First, it would mean lower monthly payments, unless interest rates rise a lot. Yes, buyers who stay in their home for 50 years and pay off their mortgage over that time will pay much more in interest than they would have with a 30-year mortgage.