Institutional Investment in North America Changing, Survey Finds

Ongoing portfolio globalization and the increasing role of “alternative” investments - hedge funds, private equity and real estate - are expected to reshape institutional investment in North America.

The 2011 Consultant Search Forecast conducted jointly by eVestment Alliance and Casey, Quirk & Associates predicts a greater emphasis on outcome-oriented portfolios constructed by risk budgeting and return attribution.  

The survey found more than one-third of consultants expect more emerging markets equity and less international developed markets activity for the remainder of the year. More than half of U.S. equity, U.S. bond and EAFE searches will involve manager replacements in 2011.  

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

Half of those surveyed expect an increase in institutional interest in inflation hedging strategies this year, while more than one-third of investment consultants surveyed anticipate a boost in liability driven investing (LDI) mandates in 2011.Three-fifths of consultants expect moderate or strong bond search activity this year. Consultants expect significant increases in private equity and real estate mandates in 2011. 

“eVestment and Casey Quirk hope that the latest search expectations provide a clear picture on how North American institutional investors should adapt to the changing investment frameworks and increasingly competitive environment,” said eVestment Principal and Founder Heath Wilson.

401k Widgets Introduces Retirement Planning Tools

401k Widgets' product line has been expanded to include a glossary, checklist, and FAQs.

These “widgets” enhance a set of tools that already includes a Roth 401k Calculator and a 401k Paycheck Calculator, along with 401k Guideline, Solo 401k, and Retirement Industry News widgets.  

The company said 401k Widgets are a simple, cost effective way for retirement planning professionals to provide paycheck calculators and other retirement planning tools to their clients. In addition, retirement plan sponsors can select any combination of widgets they want to display on their Web sites. According to the announcement, no custom programming is required; the widgets can be installed on any HTML web-page by inserting a few lines of code.   

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

Widgets are available for free on Google Ad-supported versions, or for $495 annually per product for ad-free versions that include the client’s logo.  

More information is at http://www.401kwidgets.com.

«