White Paper No. 45: Secondary Investing in Private Equity (Revised 2013)

Secondary investments in private equity can be an attractive addition to primary private equity investments. They offer broad diversification across vintage years, industries, geographies, managers and investment strategies. Generally, capital is deployed faster than with primary commitments, reducing the time that commitments are held in reserve, and they have shorter life cycles than primary funds. Realizations usually occur more quickly, driven by the maturity of the interests acquired. This has the benefit of minimizing the impact of the J-curve. This paper will examine some of the key elements of secondary investing and of investing with secondary fund managers, and will provide a framework for evaluating secondary managers.

White Paper No. 40: Private Equity Investing (Revised 2013)

Once an investor decides to allocate capital to private equity, the first question is: “How should I go about it?” Properly structured, private equity can be the most rewarding sector of an investment portfolio. Unfortunately, most investors in private equity don’t earn returns anywhere near what they need to compensate for the risks they have taken. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the private equity opportunity, identify the key risks, and outline a strategy for investing in private equity sensibly and profitably. This paper is designed to be useful to investors who are looking to put less than $50 million into a diversified private equity portfolio.

White Paper No. 56: Being Rich

Many members of wealthy families have a complicated relationship with their wealth, and this is often especially the case with young adults. This paper examines the issues faced by wealthy families in the context of the historically important role that society’s wealthiest members have played and continue to play in America’s competitive success and in making the world a better place.

Investment Research Brief: Accelerating Tax Gains in 2012

There is some uncertainty surrounding the future of long-term and short-term capital gains tax rates, especially given the fact that the Presidential election is fast approaching and the expiration of the Bush era tax rates is on the horizon. However, even in the current environment it is possible for investors to take action.

White Paper No. 55: Yale Versus Norway

Most investors are well aware of the exceptional track record compiled by Yale University under the leadership of CIO David Swensen. But we suspect that far fewer investors are familiar with the Norway Government Pension Fund (NGPF), which can fairly be viewed as the “anti-Yale.” The NGPF is now the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world and probably the most admired as well. In the attached paper we’ve taken a look at the interesting implications of these different models for family investors.

White Paper No. 54: Investing When Fundamentals Don’t Matter

Investing on the basis of fundamentals has long been a cornerstone for prudent investors. However, the rash of extreme geopolitical events over the past several years has tried investors’ patience, riled portfolios and turned sound expectations on their heads. This white paper examines the factors that have contributed to this dilemma and discusses investment strategies investors can implement to ride out the unusual market conditions in a thoughtful and disciplined manner.

White Paper No. 53: Agriculture Investing

We have discussed agriculture investing at our Greycourt Investment Committee meetings and some of our clients have expressed interest in this area. What is “ag” investing and what is the investment thesis to support it? What are the sources of return in agriculture investing? Should investors add these investments to their portfolio of real assets? In this white paper, Greycourt examines these questions and explores the pros and cons of agriculture investing.

White Paper No. 52: The End of History (Again)

The financial crisis that began almost five years ago is still with us and we are still dominated by the events unfolding in Europe. What are some of the root causes of the crisis, and what is the future likely to hold for the Western democracies and for investor capital? In this white paper, Greycourt examines the evolution of the financial crisis, focusing specifically on Europe, and offers advice on how investors might best navigate the complex future we face.

White Paper No. 51: Prudence Versus Returns

Investors strive to act prudently and to generate good risk-adjusted returns. But what happens when these two objectives are in conflict? In this white paper Greycourt discusses the conditions under which these goals may be incompatible and offers suggestions for minimizing the opportunity costs that arise when prudence gets in the way of returns.

White Paper No. 50: No Gold Digging for Me

This paper examines gold’s history, discusses the myths and facts about gold and considers the reasons (both irrational and rational) why investors buy gold in the first place.