Benjamin Felix August 29, 2014 Advanced Investing Market Research Describing a Market Based Approach Investors and institutions try to categorize investment managers into one of two groups: active or passive. It is important to define what is meant by these respective labels. Active management is typically defined as an approach that attempts to outperform markets using fundamental or technical analysis; an active approach relies on forecasting. Investors taking an actively managed approach accept increased costs in the form of higher management fees, higher trading costs, and increased concentration risk in hopes that they will outperform the market. Passive management is typically defined as an approach that tethers a portfolio to a commercial benchmark or index. The objective of a passive manager is simply to minimize tracking error to their index. The outcome of a passive approach tends to be returns that lag their benchmark in the amount of management fees and trading costs. PWL Capital does not approach portfolio management as a traditional manager, active or passive, making it difficult to describe our philosophy in those terms. We believe that capital markets work; liquid publicly traded securities are fairly priced and reflect the aggregate risk and return expectations of all market participants. Under this belief system, the rules are different. We aren’t trying to pick winning stocks, and we don’t want third party indexes to govern our portfolio structure. Risk and return are related, and diversification becomes essential to reduce uncertainty and control risk, while also creating an environment for efficient portfolio management and trading. We look to academic finance which has identified characteristics observable in market prices that have strong correlations to higher expected returns. There is strong evidence that it is possible to add value to a portfolio by efficiently maintaining exposure to these premiums. Once these premiums are identified, effective implementation involves providing consistent exposure to these premiums, while balancing the trade-offs of trading costs and diversification. A traditional manager will want to buy certain securities on a short timeline in the event of a perceived buying opportunity, or may need to sell specific securities quickly to exit a position. Index managers have the same issue. Index reconstitution causes index managers to have to buy high-demand securities that are being added to the index, simultaneously having to sell securities removed from the index, along with all other index managers, all at the same time. Traditional active and indexed portfolios demand liquidity, and pay a premium to others for the flexibility to trade quickly. Without the “need to get done” constraints imposed by indexed or traditional active portfolios, patient traders can capture this liquidity premium and enhance portfolio returns. Our largest provider of investment instruments employs a flexible and patient trading approach that offers a tangible economic benefit. Portfolios are structured to provide consistent exposure to the dimensions of higher expected return, while minimizing portfolio turnover. Lower turnover means lower transactions costs. Their products do not follow a third party index, meaning that they gain degrees of freedom by not attempting to minimize tracking error. Securities with similar characteristics can be treated as interchangeable. This substitutability means not having to cross bid-ask spreads or move market prices due to urgency, reducing the implicit costs of trading. This investment philosophy requires a scientific approach to markets. It relies on decades of asset pricing research to identify robust and reliable dimensions of higher expected returns that are persistent, pervasive, and sensible. When portfolios are thoughtfully structured based on science, and rebalanced to provide consistent exposure to the dimensions of higher expected returns, the ideas of active and passive management are no longer sufficient descriptors. Share: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email IIROC AdvisorReport
Market Research Benjamin Felix DFA International Equity Performance Since Inception Aug 1, 2018 Market Research