It’s the July 4th weekend here in the US of A. And that means that most of you will be busy with BBQs and fireworks. For those moments that you aren’t holding some grill tongs and a cold beverage, here’s some reading:
- Pass The Popcorn: One of Sweden’s sovereign funds says that Norway’s sovereign fund has ... “some explaining to do.” Burn! It just got real. Apparently, the latter’s complete lack of corporate engagement in a scandal ridden Swedish company has gotten some Swedes fired up!
- Inherent Contradiction: Here’s the first sentence of a recent article describing what the Chinese government wants from the diversification of its pensions: “Absolute safety must be guaranteed as China considers diversifying its massive pension fund ...” Um. Sorry but that’s actually not possible. As much as we’d love to be combine pure capital preservation with capital growth, the two really don’t go together.
- Gender Equality: Anybody who’s spent much time in finance knows that the industry is, for the most part, a bunch of dudes. In my view, we desperately need a more inclusive culture, and this should start by with more women being put in charge of large investment organizations. And, good news, that just happened in Alaska!
- New Research: In case you missed, there was some groundbreaking new research reported this week that proves unequivocally that what you thought was common sense ... is. actually. common. sense! Dynamite stuff.
- Yale in Korea: The Korea Investment Corp, which is objectively too big to successfully run the endowment model pursued by many American universities, has announced its plans to run the endowment model. Sigh.
- Killer Robots: Managers are apparently very scared of impending competition from tech companies. And, as such, I’m now officially a horror writer.
- Hyperbole: KKR was recently forced to pay the SEC a fine of $30 million for stealing money right out of your grandma’s pension. People reacted accordingly.
- Hippie Alpha: Here is yet another data point that shows ESG related portfolios outperform generic indices.
- The Kiwi Model: And the best SWF in terms of performance over the past five years is ... New Zealand. Kudos to the team in Auckland.
- Selfie: Last and definitely least, here is a video in which I attempt to explain my laser focus on fees and costs. Actually, let me spare you having to sit through my deranged rambling: As I see it, only a transparent demonstration of what pensions are really paying to Wall Street will trigger a full professionalization of the pension industry. And, moreover, I genuinely believe that a sophisticated base of asset owners will be required save capitalism from endemic short termism and rent seeking ... So then fees and costs.
On that note, where’s the cooler?
