Recent challenges to the 60/40 balanced portfolio rule shouldn’t sway institutional investors away from the strategy, said Steve Foerster, professor of finance at Western University’s Ivey Business School, during the Canadian Investment Review’s 2023 Investment Innovation Conference in November. “Regardless of what’s happening now, we don’t want to confuse strategic asset allocation, which is what […]
Two-thirds (67 per cent) of North American men say they earn $55,000 or more, compared to just 39 per cent of women, according to a new survey by the Robert Walters Group. The survey, which polled more than 6,000 employees, found 44 per cent of non-binary employees reported feeling underpaid, followed by 40 per cent […]
More than half (61 per cent) of U.S. employees nearing retirement age believe low interest rates combined with rising inflation will make it difficult to create a retirement income stream that will last their lifetimes, according to a new survey by Global Atlantic Financial Group. It also found a quarter (24 per cent) of survey […]
The impact of powerful trends, including aging populations and growing debt levels in the world’s largest economies, has been somewhat mitigated in recent years by the ongoing involvement of central banks in markets and declining interest rates. However, with rates at historic lows, this is not something that can be relied on over the next […]
Defined contribution plan members saw a bounce-back in equity markets in the second quarter of 2020, boosting their gross income replacement ratios from the lows of the first quarter, according to Eckler Ltd.’s latest capital accumulation plan income tracker report. A typical male DC plan member retiring at age 65 at the end of June […]
Canadian equities were the worst performing traditional asset category in the first quarter, according to a report that sizes up the financial impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and concurrent decline in world oil prices during the first three months of 2020. The CIBC Mellon report says Canadian equities had a first-quarter median return of […]
When the dust settles from the coronavirus pandemic, what environmental, social and governance lessons will shine through? A recent blog post by Fiona Reynolds, chief executive officer of the Principles for Responsible Investment, pointed to differences between this crisis and the crisis of 2008. “While there are certainly parallels with the global financial crisis just […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans posted a return of 14 per cent in 2019, according to the RBC Investor and Treasury Services’ universe. These double-digit returns were the second highest for DB plans in the past decade, bolstered by a surge in equity markets both domestically and around the world. “Over the past 10 years, […]
Several factors are pointing to a possible rebound in emerging market stocks this year. Stocks in China and other developing economies notched solid gains in 2019, but lagged the blockbuster market returns delivered by publicly traded companies in the U.S. and other developed economies. The U.S.-China trade war and signs of slowing global economic growth […]
Global shares, represented by the MSCI world index, ended 2019 at an all-time high. Their robust 9.5 per cent per annum return during the 2010s may come as little surprise given both the starting point, which coincided with the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the extraordinary efforts by central banks to prop up […]