Yale's $41.4 billion endowment (as of June 30, 2024) Source: Yale.edu
Nov 11
Love0

Press Release: Endowment Index Historical Data Now Available Through Morningstar, Interactive Data and Bloomberg

By Endowment Index™, News

APPLETON, Wis., Nov. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/

Historical index data for the Endowment Index™ — calculated by Nasdaq OMX® — is now available through major index and investment databases, including Bloomberg, Morningstar, and Interactive Data.  In addition, the 30,000+ advisors on the Envestnet platform can now select the Endowment Index™ to benchmark client portfolios. Endowment Index™ data can be accessed through most major quote providers and websites under the symbol “ENDOW.” The Index’s Morningstar ID is F00000TPG6.

The Endowment Index helps trustees, portfolio managers, consultants and advisors to endowments, foundations, trusts, defined benefit/defined contribution plans, pension plans and individual investors more appropriately track the performance of and analyze globally-diversified, multi-asset portfolios. The Endowment Index™ is an objective benchmark comprised of three major asset class building blocks: Global Equity, Global Fixed Income, and Alternatives, which includes hedge funds, private equity and real assets. The Endowment Index™ is a total return index and all underlying components are comprised of exchange-traded funds or other investable securities.  Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. in collaboration with ETF Model Solutions, LLC earlier this year launched the Endowment Index™ as a benchmarking tool for investors in globally-diversified, multi-asset portfolios that include alternative investments.

Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. is an independent Private Wealth Management Firm using a Multi-Client Family Office service model, whose mission is to grow wealth for individuals, families, retirement plans, endowments, foundations and other institutions through the utilization of the Endowment Investment Philosophy™.  EWM can construct index-based portfolios for investors based upon the Endowment Index™ asset allocation.

ETF Model Solutions, LLC, is third party investment manager and ETF strategist that builds investment models for 401(k) plans, Investment Advisors within their practice, Family Offices, Endowments, Foundations, Trusts, and Individual Investors.  The Firm is the fund manager for the Endowment Multi-Asset ETF Collective Investment Fund, available for use in 401(k) and other retirement plans.

Contact:
Prateek Mehrotra, MBA, CFA®, CAIA®
Email
920.785.6010
www.EndowmentWM.com or www.ETFModelSolutions.com

Disclosure:  You typically cannot invest directly in an index. Indexes do not contain fees.  Information presented is for educational purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies, nor shall it be construed to be the provision of investment advice.  Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not insured or guaranteed. Be sure to consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any investment strategies. While the firms are related and share corporate offices, Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. and ETF Model Solutions, LLC are each individually registered as an investment adviser in the State of Wisconsin. A copy of each firm’s respective disclosure document, Form ADV Brochure Part 2, is available upon request.

Link to Release

Nov 11
Love0

Press Release: Endowment Index™ Historical Data Now Available Through Morningstar, Interactive Data and Bloomberg

By Endowment Index™, News

APPLETON, Wis., Nov. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/

Historical index data for the Endowment Index™ — calculated by Nasdaq OMX® — is now available through major index and investment databases, including Bloomberg, Morningstar, and Interactive Data.  In addition, the 30,000+ advisors on the Envestnet platform can now select the Endowment Index™ to benchmark client portfolios. Endowment Index™ data can be accessed through most major quote providers and websites under the symbol “ENDOW.” The Index’s Morningstar ID is F00000TPG6.

The Endowment Index helps trustees, portfolio managers, consultants and advisors to endowments, foundations, trusts, defined benefit/defined contribution plans, pension plans and individual investors more appropriately track the performance of and analyze globally-diversified, multi-asset portfolios. The Endowment Index™ is an objective benchmark comprised of three major asset class building blocks: Global Equity, Global Fixed Income, and Alternatives, which includes hedge funds, private equity and real assets. The Endowment Index™ is a total return index and all underlying components are comprised of exchange-traded funds or other investable securities.  Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. in collaboration with ETF Model Solutions, LLC earlier this year launched the Endowment Index™ as a benchmarking tool for investors in globally-diversified, multi-asset portfolios that include alternative investments.

Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. is an independent Private Wealth Management Firm using a Multi-Client Family Office service model, whose mission is to grow wealth for individuals, families, retirement plans, endowments, foundations and other institutions through the utilization of the Endowment Investment Philosophy™.  EWM can construct index-based portfolios for investors based upon the Endowment Index™ asset allocation.

ETF Model Solutions, LLC, is third party investment manager and ETF strategist that builds investment models for 401(k) plans, Investment Advisors within their practice, Family Offices, Endowments, Foundations, Trusts, and Individual Investors.  The Firm is the fund manager for the Endowment Multi-Asset ETF Collective Investment Fund, available for use in 401(k) and other retirement plans.

Contact:
Prateek Mehrotra, MBA, CFA®, CAIA®
Email
920.785.6010
www.EndowmentWM.com or www.ETFModelSolutions.com

Disclosure:  You typically cannot invest directly in an index. Indexes do not contain fees.  Information presented is for educational purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies, nor shall it be construed to be the provision of investment advice.  Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not insured or guaranteed. Be sure to consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any investment strategies. While the firms are related and share corporate offices, Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. and ETF Model Solutions, LLC are each individually registered as an investment adviser in the State of Wisconsin. A copy of each firm’s respective disclosure document, Form ADV Brochure Part 2, is available upon request.

Link to Release

Oct 28
Love0

How To Invest Like The Ivy League Endowments with ETFs

By Alternative Investments, ETF Related

Seeking Alpha published an article by Prateek Mehrotra outlining how ETFs can help investors build institutional quality portfolios diversified into liquid alternative investments designed to improve long-term risk adjusted returns. The article summary

  • The country’s largest endowments aim to preserve capital while producing income and appreciation with less correlation to the stock market regardless of market conditions.
  • Performance among Ivy League endowments and retirement plans that invest like them varied widely last year but in the long run, they posted stellar risk-adjusted returns.
  • You can invest like an Ivy League endowment yourself with a basket of ETFs offering exposure to all of the major asset classes in their portfolios.

The entire article can be read on the Seeking Alpha website.

Oct 16
Love0

Endowment Wealth Management Records New Radio Spot Discussing Retirement

By News

Rob Riedl, Director of Wealth Management at Endowment Wealth Management talks about 61% of Americans without a retirement plan should develop a road map to help them to their retirement destination in a new radio spot running the week of October 13, 2014 on WHBY 1150, a radio station dedicated to news, sports and talk programming in the Appleton, Green Bay and Fox Cities area.

Click to listen:  EWM-Radio-Rob-Riedl-on-Retirement-2014.10.13

member01

 

 

 

Robert Riedl, CPA, CFP®, AWMA®

Sep 30
Love0

U.S. Inflation Watch: Price Index for Personal Consumption Expenditures in August-2014

By Inflation Watch

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, which is the price index for personal consumption expenditures increased 1.5% in August over previous twelve months. August 2014 was the 28th straight month this number has been below Fed’s 2% target. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core PCE indicator has also increased at 1.5% year over year. This has slightly decelerated from 1.6% in July’14.

The CPI measure rose 1.7% year over year in Aug’14, which was a marked slowdown from the better than 2% pace recorded in the previous four months.

The CPI measure has historically run about half a percentage point below the PCE price index.

(Source: WSJ)

Sep 19
Love0

Comparing the Nation’s Largest Pension Fund Asset Allocation and Return History to the Endowment Index™

By Alternative Investments, Endowment Index™

The nation’s largest pension fund, the California Public Employees Retirement System, better known as CalPERS has been in the news this week with an announcement that they are going to be liquidating their $4B hedge fund allocation over the next year.  Apparently, the high costs and complexities, combined with their ability to scale the asset class relative to their $300B portfolio just isn’t worth the effort.

While on the surface this may seem like shocking news, in reality, this isn’t surprising – its simply another data point confirming the transition from traditional alternatives to liquid alts is real and likely to continue.  Given the higher costs, and other burdens (K-1 tax returns, lockups, accredited investor mandates, lack of transparency, scandals/Madoff, high minimums, and others) with the partnership form of traditional alternatives, its logical that more advisors and investors will continue to consider liquid alts as either a replacement for their traditional alternatives allocation, or to in an effort to enhance their traditional two-dimensional stock-bond portfolios.

CalPERS announcement prompted us to take a closer look at their portfolio as compared to the Endowment Index™ calculated by Nasdaq OMX®.  The Endowment Index represents the asset allocation portfolio holdings of over institutions managing over $400 billion in total assets.

Endowment Index™ vs. CalPERS Asset Allocation and 10 Year Return History

Endowment Index vs CalPERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*For 10 year period ending June 30, 2014.  Returns are annualized.

Past performance no guarantee of future results.  The above is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice.  Index data presented for comparison purposes only. Indexes don’t have fees. You cannot invest directly in an index.  Endowment Index data prior to May 19, 2014 contains backtested data, which contains certain weaknesses.  Click here for additional disclosure on back testing.

Sep 01
Love0

U.S. Inflation Watch-July 2014

By Inflation Watch

Consumer prices rose modestly in July, a sign inflation remains in check as the Federal Reserve winds down its bond-buying program. The price index for personal consumption expenditures–the Fed’s preferred inflation measure–increased 1.6% in July from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Friday. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core prices climbed 1.5% year over year.

Both overall and core prices rose at the same annual pace in July as they did in June, suggesting inflation pressures remained at bay. Compared to a month earlier, each measure was up just 0.1%. Inflation continues to run below the 2% target the Fed sets as a gauge of price stability and healthy growth. The PCE price index has run below 2% for 27 consecutive months.

Still, prices have picked up since the start of the year, and the Fed projects they’ll steadily climb toward its target by the end of 2015. As recently as February, the index showed prices growing at just 1% year over year.

A separate measure also shows inflation in check. The Labor Department’s consumer-price index rose 2% in July from a month earlier. In May and June, the index had risen 2.1% year over year.

The CPI historically runs about half a percentage point higher than the PCE price index, which employs different statistical methods.

(Source: WSJ, BLS)

Aug 29
Love0

Euro Zone’s Deflationary Problems

By Inflation Watch

Is the Euro Zone dealing with the same deflationary issues that the Fed was grappling with a few years ago?

With the drop in headline euro-zone inflation to 0.3% in August from 0.4% in July, calls for further ECB action—including large purchases of sovereign bonds—are getting louder. Clearly, inflation is far adrift of the ECB’s target of “below, but close to” 2%.

But once again, virtually all of the decline is due to volatile prices for energy, food, alcohol and tobacco. Excluding those, euro-zone inflation rose to 0.9% from 0.8%. Of the decline in headline inflation from 1.3% a year ago, nearly 90% is attributable to moves in energy and food prices.

With core inflation stable, it is hard to see deflation as a threat, even if market-based measures of inflation expectations have proved wobbly recently. More relevant in any case is the attitude of consumers and entrepreneurs to inflation. If lower food and energy prices are proving a cushion for stretched individuals and businesses, then that may be no bad thing. But the longer low inflation persists, the more it may become a problem if, for instance, it starts to drive wage settlements.

(Source: WSJ)