Coming to Portfolios Near You

Abstract

Postulating that, when hiring an investment consultant or wealth advisor, high-net-worth families expect good investment performance, the author first notes that this carries with it three potential pitfalls for the wealth advisor: unrealistic performance expectations, increasingly challenging needs to differentiate themselves based solely on their investment performance, and the prospects for a changing equity valuation environment. He then argues that, facing the potentially toxic mix of unrealistic expectations combined with anticipated lower realized returns, many advisors are beginning to challenge traditional assumptions regarding the creation of investment portfolios. This article surveys several of the more interesting investment ideas currently working their way into client portfolios. Some of them remain largely academic; others remain largely institutional, though these are “trickling down” to individual portfolios in increasingly short cycle.