Wealth Management
NDVR, a Boston-based advisor that combines technology and dedicated financial advisors to build and manage custom portfolios for high-net-worth investors, recently announced new capabilities that allow it to create hyper-customized portfolios reflecting the socially responsible investing values of individual clients. These new capabilities are part of the firm’s Unified Equity strategy, which includes direct indexing, active factors, tax-loss harvesting, and SRI. The company builds portfolios that directly reflect the values of its clients while targeting a combination of growth, volatility, and future cash-flow requirements. To incorporate SRI, NDVR will utilize data generated by the non-profit shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow's Invest Your Values screening platform. NDVR’s custom portfolios are designed to deliver what the firm calls Construction Alpha™, the aggregate performance enhancements expected from investment alpha, cost savings, and tax efficiency.
Finsum:NDVR, an advisor that offers customized portfolios through direct indexing, announced that its portfolios will now reflect the SRI values of individual investors.
Based on research published by Mattison Public Relations in London, more than half of the companies in the FTSE 100 now have board-level ESG committees. The data was compiled by reviewing the latest annual reports from all 100 companies. While the overall percentage was 54% of FTSE 100 companies, the research showed that the percentage varied by industry. For instance, 100% of oil, gas, and mining companies had board-level ESG committees, while only 13% of the non-bank financial services sector had these committees. Companies in the non-bank financial services sector include insurers, asset managers, and retail investment platforms. Within the 54%, 56% were made up entirely of non-executive directors. This would allow those companies to add directors with ESG expertise to provide greater oversight of the companies' ESG performance.
Finsum:Based on recent research, 54 companies in the FTSE 100 now have board-level ESG committees to evaluate a company’s ESG performance.
Southeast Asian wealth manager StashAway and Blackrock announced that the two firms will partner to offer a suite of multi-asset model portfolios. The portfolios will be managed by StashAway and built using Blackrock’s analytics and ETFs. StashAway launched in 2017 with its own General Investing portfolios but has since expanded its offerings to include ESG investing, thematic portfolios, and cash growth. The new partnership will provide Asia-based investors access to BlackRock’s investment capabilities through StashAway’s platform. Investors will be able to choose from three investing strategies optimized for long-term risk-adjusted returns. StashAway’s General Investing portfolio optimizes for long-term risk-adjusted returns while keeping risks constant. Its Responsible Investing portfolio follows the same strategy but is also optimized for ESG impact. The third portfolio, which will be powered by BlackRock, is a long-term investment strategy offering broader diversification for investors.
Finsum:AsianDigital wealth managerStashAway has partnered with BlackRock to provide investors access to multi-asset portfolios built using Blackrock’s analytics and ETFs.
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As investors grapple with inflation and economic uncertainty, there is one industry that has been outperforming the market, and that’s cybersecurity. While most technology companies have cautioned investors about slower corporate spending, cybersecurity firms are still seeing massive demand. For instance, CrowdStrike and SentinelOne, both recently increased their forecasts for this year. While cybersecurity has always been important, companies are now even more concerned about system vulnerabilities due to an increase in cyber-attacks amidst the war in Ukraine. In addition, the advent of remote and hybrid working arrangements has also increased the demand for cybersecurity solutions. While companies can trim spending on software items such as CRM, cybersecurity is too important to risk. The minute a company lets up, they are at risk of a ransomware attack. This has resulted in the Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) outperforming the NASDAQ this year.
Finsum:While other software companies are seeing slowing demand, the sheer necessity of cybersecurity has resulted incybersecurity ETFs outperforming the NASDAQ this year.
RBC Wealth Management’s aggressive recruiting has landed another team. The firm was able to lure Coatoam Wealth Management Group, a $560 million team, away from Merrill Lynch. The team, which is led by Managing Director Brian Coatoam, is joining RBC in their new office in Winter Park, FL. Coatoam has been in the industry for 24 years. He got his start with Advantage Trading Group and worked for Morgan Stanley before joining Merrill Lynch. He leads a six-person team, which includes two Certified Financial Planners, Derek Grimm, and Ryan Plank. RBC, like many firms, is pushing expansion in Florida as the state lures more wealthy investors due to a lack of income and capital gains taxes. RBC had previously announced a father-son advisor team joining its office in Palm Gardens and in January the firm recruited a $1 billion Florida team from Truist.
Finsum:With more wealthy investors moving to Florida, RBC continues its aggressive expansion in the state by recruiting a $560 million Merrill Lynch team.
One of the most popular allocations for model portfolios in recent history has been the 60/40 model. A classic allocation with 60% invested in stocks and 40% invested in bonds. Until recently, this model has generated stable returns for investors. However, this year’s brutal returns for both the equity and fixed income markets have investors wondering if the traditional 60/40 model provides adequate protection. In most previous equity downturns, investors have been able to count on bond instruments to hedge negative equity performance due to an inverse relationship between stock returns and bond yields. But this year, investors have been faced with both a down stock market and a hawkish Fed, leading to losses in both asset classes. This has made the 60/40 model seem outdated as of late. While the 60/40 model may not be dead yet, investors may want to consider model portfolios with additional asset classes in the current market environment.
Finsum:With a down stock market and a hawkish Fed, investors may want to reconsider the 60/40 model portfolio.