The E&F Advocate: Endowment Turbulence – A Crisis at the Crosswinds of Politics, Policy, and Portfolio Strategy

photo credit: ideogram.ai Back in calmer times, larger endowments operated with seeming invisibility—quietly compounding capital over decades, shielded from public glare. Fast forward to today, these capital pools sit squarely in the eye of a brewing political and financial storm. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia—once synonymous with strategic patience and long-termism—are now recalibrating rapidly. The…

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April 2025

Summary April 2025 tested global markets in ways that have not been felt since March of 2020. The stress kicked off on April 2 (Liberation Day) with President Trump’s global tariff announcement. His stated plan was to tax imports from every country in the world at a minimum of 10%, with some trading partners facing rates…

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March 2025

Summary U.S. stocks tumbled in March, finishing off a rocky first quarter of 2025. Tariff talk continued to dominate the headlines as measures targeting steel, lumber, and the auto industry were met with countermeasures from Canada, the Eurozone, and Asia. Domestic bonds provided some diversification but still only managed to end the month flat. Inflation…

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A Perspective on 2025 Tariffs

Photo credit: unsplash Why Tariffs to Restore Trade Balances Won’t Always Lead to a 1:1 Price Increase for Consumers, and Shouldn’t Throw Your Strategies Off Balance There’s a widespread assumption that tariffs—taxes on imported goods – automatically result in a direct, 1:1 price increase for consumers, meaning a 25% tariff would raise prices by 25%…

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The E&F Advocate: Five Pillars of Endowment Governance to Support Greater Liquidity, Transparency and Returns

Photo credit: Dreamstime The “Yale Model” of endowment investment strategy created by David Swenson, successful for decades, may be nearing retirement. What was developed during a time of falling interest rates, less asset class ubiquity, and diminished premiums for exotics, may be a far less tenable model in 2025. Models like Yale’s with their reliance…

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February 2025

Summary Markets were mixed in February, as U.S. investors shunned equities for the safety of bonds. Outside of the U.S., markets shrugged off the uncertainty surrounding potential U.S. tariffs to generate modest gains. January CPI came in slightly above expectations, and geopolitics moved to the forefront again with questions on U.S. policy shifts in Ukraine…

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January 2025

Summary Markets started 2025 on solid footing with major asset classes posting positive returns in January. Global equity markets moved higher and interest rate volatility was muted during the month. While markets closed January with an eye toward the impact of evolving trade policies related to President Trump’s tariff threats. Earlier gains prevailed against any…

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