Press

The 401kWire’s Neil Anderson references new research from MPI’s Megan Woods and Jeff Schwartz on the need to monitor the way mutual funds rank in traditional Defined Contribution scorecards as the impacts of the Financial Crisis fade from the 5 year window commonly used in fund screens and rating systems. The elimination of the Crisis downmarket has led to rapid changes in the way funds rank and overall volatility in fund rating systems. See the full research, “Crisis in the Rearview Mirror”.

Barron’s “Focus on Funds” counts Megan Woods’ “Risk Parity – What’s in a Name” amongst the “best reading in fund investing.” The piece, first appearing in FINalternatives, analyzes performance of risk parity mutual funds, finding a surprising disparity between offerings in terms of estimated asset exposure and implied leverage levels.

A contributed article in FINalternatives by MPI’s Megan Woods analyzes performance of risk parity mutual funds, finding a surprising disparity between offerings in terms of estimated asset exposure and implied leverage levels. This wide range of perceived risk and exposures defies easy comparison and classification, and warrants investors’ careful consideration when evaluating allocations to the fast growing group. See the blog with full footnotes and sources here.

In a series of articles on the rise of multi-alternatives published in the May issues of Risk Magazine and Hedge Funds Review (“Hedge Funds for the Masses”), Kris Devasabai utilizes exclusive MPI’s quantitative analysis of a multi-alternatives fund (“Brilliance Bundled in Quantity”) and commentary from Michael Markov on the need for due diligence in the expanding universe of liquid alternatives offerings, a class facing regulatory review and challenges in educating investors on risk and structure.

A recent article published by Barron’s features commentary from MPI’s Daniel Li in a story on the Barron’s 400 Index and ETF (BFOR) following its biannual rebalancing. Li’s performance analysis shows the “growth-at-a-reasonable-price” ETF’s investment style exhibiting a small, though increasing, value tendency.

“Strategies” columnist Jeff Sommer features exclusive analysis and commentary from Michael Markov in a story posted on The New York Times looking at Pimco in the wake of recent underperformance and management changes at the $1.91 trillion fund manager. View MPI’s Research Corner for an analysis of Pimco Total Return, “The Taper at the Beach: Pimco, the Fed and a Quantitative Look at the World’s Largest Bond Fund”.

FINalternatives publishes a guest article by Michael Markov presenting MPI’s Dynamic Style Analysis (DSA) technique applied to Bridgewater’s All Weather Portfolio.

Hedge Funds Review publishes a summarized version of MPI and Prof. Russ Wermer’s award-winning research paper on hedge fund monitoring and risk analysis.

MPI research collaborator Petter Kolm is quoted discussing the evolution of hedge fund replication and the potential role of the smart beta they can deliver in investor portfolios. Find the full article on Barron’s.

Planadviser covers MPI’s launch of TDF Analytics at ASPPA 401k Summit in Las Vegas for target date fund analysis and reporting, noting the industry focus on peer group comparison for performance benchmarking and reporting.