The Climb to Investment Excellence
Description
In The Climb to Investment Excellence: A Practitioner's Guide to Building Exceptional Portfolios and Teams, celebrated institutional investor and asset allocator Ana Marshall draws on her 36 years' experience in finance and investment to deliver a comprehensive and practical blueprint for a resilient and high-performing institutional portfolio, as well as a reliable roadmap for the management of its stakeholders.
You'll discover ready-to-deploy strategies and advice that's informed by evidence and tried and tested in the real world, helping you to build and manage your team, construct a portfolio, set your goals, select the right managers, and more.
You'll also find:
Explorations of three themes that consistently define the careers of successful investors and asset allocators: strategy and planning, trust, and risk management
The critical factors every investor and allocator should consider before making any sort of impactful decision
Examinations of the importance of resilience in the face of bad fortune or mistakes
A can't-miss resource for institutional investors and asset allocators, The Climb to Investment Excellence will also benefit board members tasked with overseeing their organizations' investment objectives and performance in a volatile and ever-changing market.
<b>A go-to resource for institutional investors and asset allocators seeking practical advice from a proven leader in the field</b>
In<b> </b><i>The Climb to Investment Excellence: A Practitioner's Guide to Building Exceptional Portfolios and Teams</i>, celebrated institutional investor and asset allocator Ana Marshall draws on her 36 years' experience in finance and investment to deliver a comprehensive and practical blueprint for a resilient and high-performing institutional portfolio, as well as a reliable roadmap for the management of its stakeholders.
You'll discover ready-to-deploy strategies and advice that's informed by evidence and tried and tested in the real world, helping you to build and manage your team, construct a portfolio, set your goals, select the right managers, and more.
You'll also find:
<ul><li>Explorations of three themes that consistently define the careers of successful investors and asset allocators: strategy and planning, trust, and risk management</li><li>The critical factors every investor and allocator should consider before making any sort of impactful decision</li><li>Examinations of the importance of resilience in the face of bad fortune or mistakes</li></ul>A can't-miss resource for institutional investors and asset allocators, <i>The Climb to Investment Excellence</i> will also benefit board members tasked with overseeing their organizations' investment objectives and performance in a volatile and ever-changing market.
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Person
<b>ANA MARSHALL</b> is Chief Investment Officer for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She manages a $13 billion investment portfolio and has over 36 years of experience as an institutional investor and allocator. Ana co-teaches a course on asset allocation and portfolio management at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is a frequent speaker at Milken Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on several nonprofit boards.
Content
Prologue
PART 1: BASE CAMP - THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
Preparing for Base Camp: The must-read chapters to maximize the probability of success.
1 Identifying the Summit
Determining the Investment Objective
Institutional Constraints and Payout
Various Approaches to Policy Portfolios
Risk Tolerance
Time Horizon
2 Defining Responsibilities
Delegation of Authority
Governance
Assembling the Team
Transparency
Settling in at Base Camp: Expanding the toolbox to refine skillset and broaden the options in the face of changing conditions.
3 The Subtlety of Public Asset Classes
Public Equity
Fixed Income
Hedge Funds
4 A Closer Look at Private Markets
Role of Private Investment Classes
Illiquidity Premium
Duration of Investment Holding Period
Leverage
Traditional Fund Structures
Alternative Fund Structures
Reconciling Performance
PART 2: THE EXCITEMENT OF THE CLIMB
From Base Camp to First Camp: Asset Allocation; Developing the roadmap for the expedition.
5 Developing a Policy Portfolio
Setting Capital Market Assumptions
Constraints for Optimizer
The Cloud of Efficiency
Creating an Asset Allocation Policy
Range of Possible Outcomes
Stress Testing the Policy Portfolio
Shortcomings of Models
From First Camp to Second Camp: Portfolio Management; The art of adapting to the constantly changing landscape.
6 Portfolio Construction
Selecting Market Betas
Designing Asset Class Strategies
Concentration versus Diversified Manager Roster
Sizing of Individual Managers
Role of Re-sizing and Rebalancing
Internal Process
Exogenous Risk
7 Active Risk
Measuring Active Risk
Limits to Active Risk
Setting Expectations of Annualized Alpha
8 Hedging
Active Hedging Strategy
Volatility Management Strategy
Alternatives to Hedging
9 Liquidity Management
Illiquidity Tolerance of Institution
Unfunded Commitments
Modeling Portfolio Cash Flows
10 Secondary Sales
A Tool in Active Portfolio Management
Constructing a Portfolio for Sale
Advantages and Drawbacks
11 Benchmarks
Design Options
Benchmark Selection
Testing the Benchmarks
Making Changes to Portfolio Benchmarks
From Second Camp to Third Camp: Manager Selection; Selecting your partners for the climb, trusting your instincts, and learning when to quit with grace.
12 Manager Selection and Due Diligence
Evolution of Manager Selection
Setting the Bar
Refining the Skills of the Team
Diligence using the four Ps -people, philosophy, process, performance
Sizing the Investment
Monitoring the Portfolio
Identifying Biases
Knowing When to Quit
PART 3: THE SUMMIT IN VIEW
Reaching for the Summit: Managing Stakeholders; The most dangerous part of the climb
13 Managing the Team
Team Culture
Team Structure
Decision Making
Size and Skills of Team
Leadership
Designing an Incentive Plan that Works
14 Managing Up
Developing Trust with the Board
Transparency in Reporting
Balancing Optimism, Confidence, and Reality
Communication with the IC
15 Managing Relationships with Fellow Investors
Developing True Partnership with GPs/Managers
Approaches to Diversity and Inclusion
Epilogue
Value of Discipline, Integrity, Trust, and Resilience
Honing the Competitive Edge
Glossary
Works Cited
Index