Description: This webinar will discuss and illustrate professionalism standards in an interactive case study format. The session will begin with a lightning round discussion with audience polling on professionalism topics and standards of investment practice. Participants will then work through several case studies in an investment context, each of which will have its own specific professionalism considerations. Audience polling and discussion will be included as part of each case study.

Description: Ensuring employees retire with adequate benefits is an ever-growing challenge. During this webcast, we will highlight key insights from the fields of behavioral economics and data analytics that can be utilized to better equip employees for retirement. Areas of focus will include inherent biases that people exhibit and how employers can use these biases to design plan features that will nudge their employees towards making better decisions for their futures.

Description: Modeling Approaches and Challenges focuses on approaches to real world simulation and the challenges and considerations in real world simulation. Topics include: A frequency domain approach to build realistic multi-horizon scenarios. (Ortec approach) Cascade models structure linking models for major asset classes and economic variables. (Moody’s approach) Overview of models, calibrations & approaches within the context of different use cases. Deterministic & stochastic approaches. Importance of model re-calibration flexibility. We will also discuss specific insights into considerations and challenges in real world simulation, which include topics like: Setting capital market assumptions and/or calibration targets. Assumptions about correlation and causality. Calibrating the model to capital markets assumptions. Validating the model against capital market assumptions. Role of history, market data and stylized facts. Importance of back testing. Calibrating the model to multiple investment horizons. Inclusion of alterative asset classes such as private equity, infrastructure, and direct real estate. Associated issues of limited data, illiquidity and greater uncertainty about calibration targets.