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IMCA recently partnered with Smart Brief, a provider of industry-related e-newsletters, to offer a new bi-weekly newsletter entitled IMCA Insight. This exciting new member benefit will cover the latest updates and trends in investment consulting and wealth management as well as IMCA news. Tentatively set to launch on October 19, IMCA Insight will replace IMCA Ideas. As a subscriber to IMCA Ideas, you are invited to sign up for a complimentary subscription to IMCA Insight. Watch your e-mail inbox; an invitation with additional instructions will be arriving soon!

INVESTMENT TRENDS
Asset Allocation and Rebalancing: Weathering Volatility
The past 10 years have reminded investors just how volatile markets can be. The S&P 500 peaked and troughed twice with market losses of 45 percent and 51 percent, respectively. Corporate bonds underperformed government bonds by more than 14 percent in 2008 and subsequently outperformed government bonds by more than 17 percent in 2009. In such an environment, how does an investor protect investments from drawdowns, and why does that matter?

WEALTH MANAGEMENT
Measuring the Risks and Rewards of Target Date Funds:
Comparing “To” Funds to “Through” Funds
The Department of Labor rules for qualified default investment options advance three investment options: target date funds, balanced funds, and managed accounts. Managed accounts hold the most promise for advisors, but they require adherence to an audited prudent investment process, making target date funds the immediate play—and the most popular choice of QDIA.

INSTITUTIONAL CONSULTING
Q-Sort: Linking Firm Culture and Investment Manager Success
Few tools exist for practitioners who are looking for managers that can provide a good philosophical or cultural fit with a client, and most of them rely on subjective opinions that are difficult to apply over time and different managers. “Q-Sort” is a quantifiable measure of culture and decision-making processes at investment firms, and Q-Sort scores may indicate a manager’s future institutional asset growth and subsequent investment professional departures.

BEST PRACTICES
The Investment Policy Statement: A Business Plan for Investment Fiduciaries
Fiduciaries are no different than members of a company’s management team in that they both have resources under their direction that must be administered for the benefit of investors. Company managers commit their strategy to paper as a business plan; fiduciaries commit their plan to the investment policy statement (IPS). _______________________________________

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