White Papers
Home : White Papers : [42-30], [29-20], [19-10], [9-1]
As an open architecture firm, Greycourt’s only stock-in-trade is our intellectual capital. It is therefore important that Greycourt represent the cutting edge in every area that will have
an important effect on the growth of our clients’ wealth. We happily share our knowledge with investors via our series of Greycourt White Papers. Although the white papers are not written with any specific client in
mind, we believe that many of the issues addressed in these papers may be of interest to affluent families and demanding institutional investors.
White Paper No. 42: Global Investing: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
In this paper we investigate the case for global investing, examine why it is that so many American investors underweight foreign stocks, and suggest a sensible middle ground between true global investing and the current home country bias that infects most portfolios.
White Paper No. 41: Our "Friend of the Investor" Brief
Departing from our usual format, we have fashioned this white paper as a faux amicus curiae brief as if it were being filed with the Supreme Court of the United States. In fact, this white paper is really an amicus opes ("Friend of the Investor") brief in which we are commenting not-too-subtly on the various court decisions regarding deductibility of investment costs. Though our remarks are presented with a humorous edge, the consequence for investors is no laughing matter!
White Paper No. 40: Private Equity Investing
Although private equity investing is not without its challenges, long-term historic returns argue strongly for exposure to this asset class for most significant investors. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the opportunities in private equity investing, identify the key risks, and outline a strategy for investing in private equity sensibly and profitably. This paper will be most useful to investors seeking to invest approximately $50 million or less in a diversified private equity portfolio.
White Paper No. 39: Auditing Alternative Investments
The purpose of this paper is to review the background behind the AICPA Practice Aid, to examine some of the mischief that implementation of the Aid has caused, and to speculate about how the auditors’ approach might be modified to improve both the quality of audits and the quality of investment portfolios.
White Paper No. 38: Open Architecture as a Disruptive Business Model
This paper examines the impact that open architecture has had on the financial services industry.
White Paper No. 37: Investing in Oil & Gas
Energy is a topic that is on the minds of
many investors these days. The enclosed white paper, “Investing in Oil & Gas,” is a primer on the techniques, opportunities and pitfalls available to investors looking at investments in the oil and gas industry.
We hope you enjoy it and find it useful.
White Paper No. 36: Hedge Funds Get "Swensened"
Many investors are steering clear
of hedge funds because of recent, widely-reported scandals, lower-than-expected returns, and the drubbing hedge funds have taken from, among others, Yale's David Swensen.
In Hedge Funds Get Swensened,
Greycourt acknowledges the problems with hedge fund investing but also suggests that investors who lack a proper exposure to hedge funds or funds of funds may be shortchanging themselves.
White Paper No. 35: Investment Performance Reporting: Just the facts, Ma'am
Because a portfolio's performance is often imperfectly understood, the challenge of proper monitoring can be difficult. In this white paper, we set forth the key facts about the process of performance reporting and
describe its major challenges and possible solutions.
White Paper No. 34: Portable Alpha Strategies
This paper explains what portable alpha strategies are and why they
are important, but also identifies a series of important challenges associated with employing portable alpha strategies in real-world portfolios.
White Paper No. 33: Much Ado About Bonds
Many investors have expressed alarm over the impact that rising rates may
have on their existing bond portfolios. In the enclosed white paper, Greycourt examines the impact of rate rises on bond values and evaluates several alternative strategies. We hope you find the white paper useful.
White Paper No. 32: The Challenge of Identifying Managers Who Will Outperform
The paper examines a couple of the
principal issues associated with money managers. Specifically:
- We analyze why it is so difficult to identify best-in-class managers in time to profit by investing with them.
- We look at why it is that good past performance can be completely meaningless.
- We identify the (mainly qualitative) characteristics of best-in-class managers.
White Paper No. 31 – Reinvigorating the Investment Committee: Introducing the Investment Committee Operating Manual
As a tool for the successful management of capital, the investment committee has been a serious disappointment. This paper discusses the reasons why investment committees tend to subtract, rather than add, value
and proposes a new approach to the use of the investment committee.
White Paper No. 30 – The Tax on Dividends: Speculations On How Taxation Changes Might Affect Investor Strategies
Speculation has heightened that the Bush administration will seek to reduce or eliminate the double taxation of dividends paid on corporate stocks. While the form and substance of such a policy are yet unclear it
would, if enacted, impact private client portfolios in several significant ways. Most obviously, reducing or eliminating the taxes levied on dividends would improve equities’ after-tax total returns relative to
other non-affected asset classes such as bonds or alternative assets. In this paper we will initially seek to illustrate how a typical investor’s recommended asset allocation might change if the elimination of taxes
on dividends were to become a reality. Second, it is likely that such a tax law change would indirectly impact other asset classes and alter the behavior of corporate management.
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