Active investment management’s weekly magazine for fee-based advisors

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An up-close look at topics with current relevance to the field of active investment management. Investment fund managers, financial strategists, research analysts, financial advisors, and professional journalists examine topical active management issues, best practices for risk management within separately managed accounts, research findings, and new industry developments.

The coming transformation of technical analysis

by | Aug 2, 2017 | UpClose

While technical analysis has its roots in practices thousands of years old, advances in technology, behavioral psychology, and artificial intelligence will lead the next transformation of the discipline. Origins of technical analysis Technical analysis...

Enhancing actively managed strategies

by | Jul 19, 2017 | UpClose

Exploring rules-based enhancements for improving returns when invested in risk assets. The goal of active investment management is compelling. Capturing more of an asset class’s upside than its downside is an investment recipe for success. In a simple...

Are index funds the next market ‘bubble’?

by | Jul 12, 2017 | UpClose

While bear markets are inevitable, will their impact be exacerbated by the growth of passive index funds—and the accompanying “madness of crowds”? One of the fun aspects of having children is re-exposure to some great kid-friendly literature. In a...

Keeping portfolio risk under control

by | Jun 21, 2017 | UpClose

Understanding the tools to better manage portfolio risk throughout different market, volatility, and economic regimes. One major gripe of mine is that some portfolio strategists who consider themselves to be risk managers are effectively just risk...

6 misconceptions about alternative investments

by | May 17, 2017 | UpClose

Alternative strategies provide a valuable tool to help investors manage risk in their investment portfolios, but this growing investment category is often misunderstood. The investment category of alternative investments is perhaps one of the most...

Marketing realities for financial advisors

by | May 10, 2017 | UpClose

In a business where establishing trust is essential, it’s unwise to take shortcuts when communicating an advisory firm’s services and active approach to investment management. Consistent messaging and frequent points of contact are the keys to a...

Explaining the (mis)behavior of markets

by | Apr 5, 2017 | UpClose

Does fractal mathematics offer a better way to understand market risk? The traditional test of understanding how something works is to take it apart and then rebuild it. If the clock still keeps time afterward, there is a good likelihood that the...

How to take a financial punch

by | Mar 22, 2017 | UpClose

Like a heavyweight title fight, investment plans have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Do your clients’ plans have the dynamic risk-managed strategies and true diversification needed to take the financial punch that markets will inevitably deliver?...

The risks of bond ‘buy and hold’

by | Mar 15, 2017 | UpClose

Employing “true” diversification and a dynamic, actively managed portfolio approach may help advisors and their clients successfully navigate a lower-return market environment. As investors, many of us have traditionally been taught that bonds and other...

The financial and investment impact of divorce

by | Mar 8, 2017 | UpClose

Why the role of financial risk management may become even more critical as divorced couples face emotional, lifestyle, and financial stress and change. In both life and investing, it is common to believe that existing or recent facts will continue...

Low volatility—high returns?

by | Feb 15, 2017 | UpClose

What offers a better opportunity for investment returns: low-volatility or high-volatility markets? It doesn’t seem possible that low-volatility markets might deliver better returns than the converse of more alpha being delivered in volatile markets. It...