Insight
The Other Shoe to Drop
In the early 1900s, New York City tenement buildings were poorly constructed with thin walls and ceilings and bedrooms stacked on top of one another. As the resident on the floor above you would prepare for bed by taking off his shoes, you would hear one shoe drop to the floor. What would come next?…
Read MoreGilt Trip: What Plan Sponsors Can Learn from the U.K. Pension Fund Crisis
Pension plan sponsors across the United Kingdom endured a harrowing week in late September as an unexpected spike in long gilt (or U.K. government bond) yields exposed their levered hedging programs to the brink of insolvency. Some sponsors went to bed feeling secure about their diversified plans (with seemingly prudent hedges) and woke the next…
Read MoreFlipped Out over Fiduciary Liability Insurance?
In 2020, more than 200 class action lawsuits were filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). It was the high water mark for actions targeting the alleged mismanagement of 401(k) and 403(b) defined contribution retirement plans. A total of 125 such actions were filed in 2021, and subject experts expect another 75 to…
Read MoreClients Ask:
What do rising inflation and interest rates mean for fixed income investments and the economy?Are we seeing mixed signals? Highland Responds Our Highland clients have wanted to know how rising inflation and interest rate hikes impact fixed income investments and the broader economic picture. Are we seeing mixed signals? Possibly. And there may have been…
Read MoreIt’s a Long Road. (But Look How Far You’ve Come.)
Don’t Let Emotional Biases Cloud Your Financial Outlook The S&P 500 has declined 12.8% so far in 2022 (through May 2022). That’s hard to stomach, but with a shift in perspective we can see that maybe it isn’t as bad as it feels. Humans are prone to a multitude of emotional biases and cognitive errors,…
Read More2022 Inflation and Investments
There’s no dodging inflation. But investors can hedge against it. If you drive a truck or SUV, no one needs to tell you that inflation has risen to uncomfortable heights—heights not seen in 40 years. A tank of regular gasoline that cost an SUV driver $114 last year, as we enter the summer vacation season,…
Read MoreHughes v. Northwestern: What Plan Sponsors Can Learn from the Supreme Court Ruling
We Don’t Talk About…
ESG Investment Rules for ERISA Plans
While the Department of Labor rules keep changing, plan sponsors and fiduciaries should be familiar with this investment approach and what these rule changes could mean for retirement plans. As investor interest in sustainable investments has been increasing over the last decade, the trend has attracted heightened interest and action from regulatory and legislative bodies…
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