I took most of this week off so that a friend of mine and I could go to the Masters golf tournament in August, GA. Our wives came along, though they stayed at our hotel location (in Savannah, GA) while we headed to yesterday's final practice round and par-3...
Performance Perspectives Blog
Thoughts on performance measurement from David Spaulding and other members of our team.
What performance measurers can learn from golf
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Understannding the rules, the conventions
This morning, I had to phone in a prescription refill to our pharmacy (CVS). They have an automated system that allows you to enter a number associated with the prescription, which makes the process pretty simple; simple up to one point, at least for me.My wife is...
Dealing with denial
Yesterday's WSJ had a book review on The Unpersuadables, by Will Storr. It isn't clear that I have much interest in the book, though the ideas summarized in the review are intriguing. The reviewer, Michael Shermer, identifies some of the folks highlighted in Storr's...
A demonstration of superior risk management
Risk measurement is a challenge; risk management, even more so. This video is a great demonstration of properly managing risks. What can we learn from it? I think that we have the vision to be able to see when things aren't working out as planned or expected, need to...
GIPS’ Sunset Rules and Q&As … what do YOU think?
We are hosting a "mini" survey, and would like your thoughts, IF your firm claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards. There are really only two questions. It should take you only a minute or so to complete it! The first deals with sunset...
Which risk-free rate to use when investing in other countries?
A client sent us a question that I am a bit surprised hasn't been asked before: which country's risk-free rate should be used when investing across countries? For example, if a US domiciled investor has a Japan-based asset, when we calculate the Sharpe ratio, should...
It’s time for a Guidance Statement on Sunset Provisions
Recall that the GIPS(R) (Global Investment Performance Standards) Executive Committee (EC) issued a "Q&A" that introduces a change to the Standards, allowing firms to remove disclosures of composite name changes after five years. During the recent EC open meeting...
When defining the word “benchmark,” don’t forget to include “confusing”
Of late, my colleagues and I have been involved in numerous conversations on the subject of benchmarks; in fact, I'm about to conduct a focused study for a client on their benchmark construction policies and procedures. I conducted a GIPS(R) (Global Investment...
What triggers a benchmark rebalance?
We received an inquiry recently regarding the appropriateness to rebalance a benchmark when the portfolio has a 10% flow. I discussed this with my colleagues, and we were all a bit surprised by the question. Now, perhaps there are loads of firms that do this, and...
The meaningfulness of statistical measures
When we conduct GIPS(R) verifications, it is not uncommon to see a footnote appear on a presentation where the number of accounts in the composite are five or fewer. The Global Investment Performance Standards do not require firms to disclose the number of accounts or...