Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010
Time: 4:15pm ET / 1:15pm PT

Alternative investments weren’t fully spared the market tailspin that ended in 2009—but the market’s gyrations have certainly proved the value of diversification into investments not correlated with equities. In fact, investor appetite for risk management and capital preservation remains high, despite sustained positive stock market returns and improved liquidity. Clearly, advisors and investors are becoming more convinced than ever that alternative strategies should be a key component of a well-diversified portfolio.

In this Webinar you’ll learn…

• The best use of alternatives in mutual funds
  A quick ride along the learning curve examining the broad range of alternatives…how they look in a mutual fund format…and what to expect in terms of risk/return.
• The long and short of long/shorts
  A primer on the broad topic of long/short—one of the most widely misunderstood alternatives for advisors—covering the many forms of long/short funds…and how they work.

Click here to Register Today!

Free Complimentary Webinar! 
Now available on-demand — Watch on your own schedule.

Advisors and the New Breed of Funds
Alternative Asset Classes, Leveraged ETFs, and More 

How do alternative asset classes, tactical asset allocation strategies, and leveraged ETFs provide the protection clients want while offering the alpha they inevitably demand? What are the risks and benefits? Join Registered Rep. magazine for an online panel discussion today.

The past eighteen months have underscored the importance of asset allocation and risk management. Last year’s run up also suggests we can anticipate more subdued returns for long-only investors. In response, asset managers are developing and launching funds that reduce portfolio volatility and increase exposure to alternative asset classes. Other new products enable advisors to allocate assets tactically within a long-term strategic framework.

We’ll discuss these trends with a panel of experts and focus on:

• The impact of alternative asset classes on portfolio volatility
• Using managed futures products in client portfolios
• How ETF’s can provide tactical exposure and hedge risk

Click here to Register Today!

Wednesday, Feb 17th, 2010 | CSRwire Talkback

CSRwire is the leading source of corporate social responsibility and sustainability press releases, reports and information.

Visit CSRwire Talkback Blog

Do SRI strategies produce results?

By Lisa Cohen

An old saw among investment portfolio managers is that “sin” stocks – tobacco, firearms, defense manufacturers and so forth – outperform stocks of companies focused on doing the right thing. Skeptics of responsible investing also point out that social agendas and values constrain investment managers from picking simply the best investments. This shortsighted axiom largely misses a key point illustrated by the financial crisis. Corporate misbehavior and excessive risk taking at formerly well-regarded organizations has created disastrous financial results, and been punished quite severely by the securities markets. At the same time, prudent and careful organizations have weathered the storm in better shape.

Now, in addition to these rather obvious opportunities for improvement of corporate behavior and financial results, we also have validation of investment outperformance for responsible investment funds in a recent study by the Social Investment Forum (SIF), an organization for responsible investing industry professionals.

SIF recently published the results of a year-end 2009 analysis showing that 65% of the all of the funds they classify as socially responsible actually outperformed their benchmarks in calendar 2009, across all asset classes and market caps, after expenses. Investment wonks will want to know about the long term performance stats, and rightfully so. Over the past ten years, arguably among the most difficult of investing periods, 37.5% of the responsible funds outperformed their respective benchmarks. Most significantly, the largest percentage of funds (65.5%) outperforming their indices on a ten year basis are in US Large Cap category, competing against the notoriously hard-to-beat S&P 500 index. Bond funds did not fare nearly as well, and none of the funds evaluated beat the (also very efficient) Barclays Capital US Aggregate index. Check out the interactive tool at http://www.socialinvest.org/resources/mfpc/.

Contrarians will point out that every analysis – this included – has its limitations. The data does not take loads into consideration. And it looks at just 22 fund families, which in this case, represents a healthy cross section of available data. However. In our view, that any analysis could prove straight-up index-beating performance for responsible investing funds is worthy of celebration and a bit of “I told you so.”

As the responsible investing movement has grown, many investment professionals have begun to yield ground on their old-school position. There is increasing agreement that factors including a company’s impact on the environment, its social agenda, and its governance practices (all together referred to as ESG) have a direct impact on the bottom line and the performance of a company’s securities over time. Bloomberg terminals, a key information source for most portfolio managers, now offer a package of ESG data on companies they cover, making environmental impact info is as accessible as stock price-to-earnings ratios.

To get here, champions of the cause have waged a battle for credibility, supported by investors’ commitment to values and causes. While quite bracing to be on the offence all the time, it is quite nice to rest for a bit and point in the direction of some performance data as support for our position.

About Lisa Cohen
Lisa Cohen is the CEO and Principal of Momentum Partners, an advisory firm to financial services and investment management industry leaders committed to driving growth and innovation. Lisa works with clients to address evolving distribution channels, innovate new products and services, identify partners and collaborators, build strategies and business plans, and more. She is a motivational leader who inspires and supports contrarian thinking, a frequent industry speaker and moderator, and regular media contributor. Momentum Partners is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment and a member of the RepThinkTank, a consortium of specialized investment industry providers brought to market by the RegisteredRep team. Lisa writes the FundHouse column for RegisteredRep Magazine. Lisa’s background includes leadership positions in both corporate financial services (Managing Director and SVP, Evergreen Investments and Director, John Hancock) and advisory/consulting services. Lisa is a graduate of Smith College and has completed Harvard’s Executive Education program in Investment Decisions and Behavioral Finance.

READERS: What’s your Talkback to the question: Do SRI strategies produce results? Let us know, and we’ll respond.

December 2009 | Strategic Insight | WINDOWS Into the Mutual Funds Industry

First, there’s a need to agree on a common vocabulary. The term ‘sustainable investing’ is newer than SRI (socially responsible investing), and reflects an evolution in thinking about the industry. It describes an investment approach that uses a financial framework that incorporates environmental, social, and corporate governance issues to evaluate investment opportunities.

Read article: Sustainable Investing Strategic Insight WINDOWS December 2009 (PDF 84kb)

November 2009 | Registered Rep | Fund House

The mutual fund industry loves to launch new products. But fund companies should close long-term laggards before launching more.

Read article: FundHouse November 2009 (PDF 183kb)