State of the Art of Investing: Issue 1

Benjamin Graham once said that the true investment professional would "develop a more professional attitude towards his work and a keener interest in maintaining and advancing the standards of his calling." Those standards continue to advance, as most investment professionals can attest.

To keep the CFA program current and relevant, CFA Institute continuously interviews investment management practitioners, employers and regulators through its practice analysis. Recent trends identified include:

• Risk factor based asset allocation
• The effect of the low/negative interest rate environment
• The effects of pension funding shortfalls
  • Chasing yields at higher fees
• Increasing allocations to alternative investments
  • You really can gain commodity exposure through public equities
• The importance of understanding financial market history
  • Siegel vs Schiller on relative valuations
• The role of ESG factors in investing
  • A real assets program that satisfies ESG objectives without sacrificing performance
  • We need a financial system that works for everyone
  • CAIA association members agree
  • Why you should vote with your proxy, not your feet
• The increasing need for private wealth management
  • The value of goals-based planning
• The rise of passive vs. active investing
• The need for investment professionals with soft skills
  • How to spot a lie
  • How you can be friendlier and a better investor
  • How to use your soft skills to help clients
  • Plan your career trajectory
  • How to become a friendlier person
• The role of "big data" and Fintech in the investment process
  • Cambridge has mapped out the cryptocurrency ecosystem
  • Algos can be beaten - if your strategy doesn't rely on outsmarting everyone else
  • Will blockchain be the financial markets' operating system?
  • The intrinsic value of blockchain

These seem like good places to start, and as I advance my own knowledge I will try to share links to interesting resources in posts like this one. Opinions expressed are mine, not those of CFA Institute. Whether you find them useful or can suggest improvement, please let me know (both so I can learn more and so I can make these posts more useful to others.)

Anything else I should be reading?

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