Ryan ALM
Blog
Is Your Head Spinning yet?
The market action over the last week or so has been so crazy that many participants are likely suffering from seasickness. It has given me the feeling that I've been on a monstrous roller coaster of just ups and downs...
Disappointing, but not Shocking
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 59% of Americans have access to a 401(k) plan through their employer, but only 32% actually invest in one. Some people would find that shocking, but I don't. We have a significant percentage of...
It's Okay To Peek!
Private pension plans operate under different accounting standards than those in the public sector (FASB versus GASB). As a consequence, private plans are "forced" to use market discount rates (ASC 715 = AA corporate yield curve), as opposed to a...
Not a Correlation of 1, But Certainly Strongly Positive
We recently produced a post on the investment into Bitcoin and Ethereum by a large public pension system. One of the points stressed by this plan's CIO was the fact that "this is another tool to manage my risk,” that...
Happy Thanksgiving!
I want to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving holiday from my family and me (sorry, Calvin Russell Kamp, our youngest grandchild who didn't make it into this picture). May the beginning of this holiday season be truly memorable!...
This is No Time to be Greedy
The WSJ's Heather Gillers has published an article today highlighting the potential risk of a liquidity crunch due to asset allocation decisions that have significantly reduced both fixed income and cash, as more aggressive exposure to alternatives - private equity...
Leverage - A Double-edged Sword
There have been many investment strategies over the years that have incorporated some aspect of leverage, but it is rare to see a public pension system decide to use leverage as an overlay on its plan's asset allocation. The CalPERS...
Funded Status Improvement - Now What?
PlanSponsor magazine is reporting on the improved funded status of DB plans following strong asset growth that offset a more modest rise in plan liabilities during October. Several organizations, including Ryan ALM, have "pension monitors" that are all reflecting similar...
Pension Stabilization - What is it?
We recently read an article (actually a paid commercial) from a large asset management organization that declared that traditional LDI was dead and that " pension stabilization " was to become LDI 3.0. For those interested, LDI 1.0 was the...
Is it Time to Go Back to the Future?
I haven't had the opportunity to speak with Michael J. Fox, but I believe that he'd agree with John Lowell. According to the latest JOLTS release, there are approximately 10.4 million job openings in the US at the end of...