Asset Management

Stocks and bonds? Real estate? Hedge funds? Private equity? The conventional way of allocating across asset classes fails to account for the overlapping risks they represent. Investors must consider the underlying factor risks behind asset class labels, just as eating a healthy diet requires looking through foods to the nutrients they contain. Factor risks are the hard times that affect all assets, and investors are rewarded for weathering losses during bad times with long-run risk premiums. Stocks and bonds? Real estate? Hedge funds? Private equity? The conventional way of allocating across asset classes fails to account for the overlapping risks they represent. Investors must consider the underlying factor risks behind asset class labels, just as eating a healthy diet requires looking through foods to the nutrients they contain. Factor risks are the hard times that affect all assets, and investors are rewarded for weathering losses during bad times with long-run risk premiums.