Deals & People May 9, 2013

BNY Mellon Creates Performance Analytics Role

Bruce Feibel was named head of performance analytics at BNY Mellon Investment Management.
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In a newly created position that supports oversight of BNY Mellon’s investment managers, Feibel is responsible for leading performance and risk analysis, analyzing the factors that drive returns and create risks for the firm’s investment strategies and portfolios. He reports to Cynthia Steer, head of manager research and investment solutions. 

Feibel has been with BNY Mellon since 1999, most recently as head of strategy for the investment services global financial business. Earlier in his career, Feibel worked at State Street Global Advisors, where he provided performance measurement services to the marketing, portfolio management and client services teams.

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Feibel serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Performance Measurement and is a member of the CFA Institute GIPS Standards Risk Management Working Group.  He wrote “Investment Performance Measurement” and co-authored “Complying with the Global Investment Performance Standards.”

Feibel holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and the designation of chartered financial analyst.

Diversions May 9, 2013

Pessimistic Outlook? You Might Live Longer

Optimistic older adults face a greater risk of disabilities and death, according to research from the American Psychological Association.
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Older people with low expectations for a satisfying future may be more likely to live longer, the research found. Apparently flying in the face of conventional thinking about positive attitudes and health in later years, “our findings revealed that being overly optimistic in predicting a better future was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the following decade,” said lead author Frieder R. Lang, PhD, of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in Germany.

 

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The study, published online in the journal Psychology and Aging, examined data in an annual survey of private households comprising some 40,000 adults ages 18 to 96. Respondents were asked to rate how satisfied they were with their lives and how satisfied they thought they would be in five years.

 

Researchers determined age differences in estimated life satisfaction; accuracy in predicting life satisfaction; age, gender and income differences in the accuracy of predicting life satisfaction; and rates of disability and death.

 

Five years after the first interview, 43% of the oldest group had underestimated their future life satisfaction, 25% had predicted accurately and 32% had overestimated, according to the study. Each increase in overestimating future life satisfaction was related to a 9.5% increase in reporting disabilities and a 10% increased risk of death, the analysis revealed.

 

Because a darker outlook on the future is often more realistic, older adults’ predictions of their future satisfaction may be more accurate, according to the study. In contrast, the youngest group had the sunniest outlook while the middle-aged adults made the most accurate predictions, but became more pessimistic over time.

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