In April, Dan Boyce and Melissa Joy joined a small group of financial planners for three days visiting Wall Street Firms. With an exclusive group of 30 participants from around the country, discussions were highly interactive. The main focus of the meetings was on Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction in today’s market environment. Main sessions were held at Blackrock, JP Morgan Asset Management, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
The low interest rate environment and future return scenarios for bonds was an enduring theme across firms. It was interesting to see different strategies and perspectives based upon individual firms. Perhaps not surprisingly, the European debt crisis was also a dominant topic. We also always find value of being able to “look under the hood” of financial firms on their turf.
In addition to the larger group meeting, Melissa visited portfolio managers at IVA and American Century. Intellectual curiosity is a cornerstone of our research process and an important component to our investment committee decisions is hands-on due diligence. One of the highlights of the trip was sharing ideas with other financial planners and wealth management firms. We value insights from our peers and are always open to new ideas.