Description: In this session, panelists will lift the curtain on the main features of investment grade (IG) private placement bonds and below investment grade (BIG) private debt and compare them with available public bond and bank loan alternatives. The panel will examine the motivations for insurance companies and pension funds to invest in private debt and the legal, diligence and operational requirements to maintain a private debt portfolio. We will also conduct a 2017 private placement market review and look forward to 2018’s likely new USD and non-USD issuance and which industry sectors are likely to issue. This session will also cover their risk and reward characteristics, and the structural intricacies of the various IG and BIG debt types and whether there is sufficient compensation for illiquidity and other risks.

Description: Investment Fallacies: Extended periods of robust macroeconomic growth are healthy for investing.

Description: The Investment Symposium is a day-and-a-half long seminar that will focus on the issues and questions faced by investors and risk managers, especially related to insurance companies and retirement plans. Presenters will discuss the big picture issues and explore practical solutions to today’s challenges. Experts will share new approaches to portfolio management and cutting edge research in asset-liability management. Technology, regulation and the economic environment will

Description: The purpose of the article is to highlight how a person or organization can excel in both a highly-competitive expert-driven environment and one where the environment is less so. One should focus on what can be done well and delegate the remaining tasks to those who are better at performing them. One should understand the environment they are operating in, how it impacts them, and how it may change through time. The principles have application to investment management, investment performance, organizational performance, business development, career progression and economics.

Description: Investment Fallacies: Simulation of Long-Term Stock Returns: Fat-Tails and Mean Reversion

Description: Investment Fallacies: Gambler’s Fallacy: Probability of Reversion

Description: This articles explores the notion of whether the old rules and paradigms of investment strategy and caution may no longer be applicable in today’s financial environment, because things were “different this time.”

Description: Investment Fallacies: Mathematical modeling of social phenomena

Description: This session will demonstrate the advantages of approaches to duration matching and cash flow matching. Plan examples and sponsor’s objectives will be presented. An overview of when to choose one approach versus a blend of the two approaches will also be covered.

Description: This article analyzes the events leading to low interest rates and recommends careful asset/liability management and risk analysis to address future challenges with interest rates.