Sophie Gilbert is Director, Capital Markets Insights
View Sophie's' bio »
This month’s reading of the Asset Class Dashboard shows that, while cash is still the only asset class whose most recent 12-month returns fell outside the historical typical range, returns for many asset classes moved higher above their historical averages.
April gave the markets quite a bit to digest. In the end, markets gave both those investors who were expecting a pullback and those who hoped the U.S. equity market rally of the first quarter wasn’t coming to an end quite yet, what they were looking for.
Not only is baseball a fun past time – it also has educational value when it comes to deciphering U.S. versus Non-U.S. performance patterns.
The strong U.S. equity market rally in the first quarter of 2013 has some investors worried about a market pullback. In our opinion, this concern is a relatively unnecessary distraction for well-diversified investors.
The future is impossible to predict and history doesn’t repeat itself. But, the newly-launched Asset Class Dashboard, which contrasts the current and historical returns for a sample of asset classes (represented by relevant indexes), can help you and your clients contextualize the current return environment.
When portfolio diversification is at its best, there will always be parts of the portfolio that are lagging while others are excelling.
If only weighing the relative merits of investing in national versus state-specific municipal bonds could be as simple as “want a lower tax bill? Invest locally.” Instead, evaluating things like required yield, cost savings and life diversification are among the keys to making an informed investment decision about municipal bonds.
e.g. yourname@company.com
We will only use your email for Helping Advisors Blog updates.
