Jerry Bramlett

Private Equity: Coming to a DC Plan Near You?

By Jerry Bramlett | 3/26/2014

A recent Investment News article promotes the idea that, “for advisers, the addition of private equity opens new doors and poses new challenges.” The idea of opening “new doors” is rooted in the fact that DC assets have been slow to adopt private equity options and, thus, unable to benefit from the... READ MORE

Learning More About Smart Beta

By Jerry Bramlett | 3/20/2014

In terms of types of money management, it seems that the names are increasingly being narrowed down to three types: beta, smart beta and active. The evolution of the distinction between beta and active began to occur in 1960s. The type of portfolio management that today is called “smart beta” has... READ MORE

U.S. Government Debt: What Does it Foretell?

By Jerry Bramlett | 2/20/2014

In an IMF Working Paper, “Financial and Sovereign Debt Crises: Some Lessons Learned and Those Forgotten,” authors Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff provide some interesting insights into the potential impact of the current high U.S. federal debt.In their paper, reference is made to their... READ MORE

The Great Rotation or the Great Reversal?

By Jerry Bramlett | 2/13/2014

The word “great” is often used to describe a big shift in the markets: the Great Deflation (1870-1898), the Great Depression (1929-1942), the Great Recession (2007-2009). Now a new term has emerged: the “Great Rotation.” Bank of America Merrill Lynch coined this term in a research note from October... READ MORE

Bonds: Fiduciary Concerns?

By Jerry Bramlett | 2/6/2014

In an interesting article about fiduciary risks, Fiduciary News’ Chris Carosa promotes the idea that an excessive weighting of bonds in 401(k) plans could increase fiduciary liability. Reference is made to the recent SSgA DC Investor Survey, which states that, “49% of participants are investing... READ MORE

Price-Weighted Indices: An Accident Waiting to Happen?

By Jerry Bramlett | 1/29/2014

In a rather provocative article, Stacy Schaus, PIMCO’s DC chief, sounds the alarm about plan sponsors who “engage in a myopic search for the lowest fees possible for their DC plan.” Schaus is referring to the big shift toward “market-capitalization-weighted index strategies that passively track... READ MORE

Target Date Funds: Fiduciary Headache?

By Jerry Bramlett | 1/23/2014

The title of a recent post by Schneider Downs, “New Trend in 401(k) Plans May Be a Headache for Fiduciaries” is a good description of what plan sponsors face as it relates to target-date funds.There are many challenges involved in selecting, monitoring and deselecting TDFs:• TDFs are focused on... READ MORE

Emerging Challenges to Glide Path Constructs

By Jerry Bramlett | 1/10/2014

Two recent studies challenge the most fundamental assumption undergirding the construction of virtually all target-date glide paths: that the best strategy is to wind down equity exposure as a DC investor nears retirement.We reviewed the first one, “The Glide Path Illusion and Potential Solutions... READ MORE

Stable Value Investing, Post-2008

By Jerry Bramlett | 1/2/2014

A recent Russell Investments paper, “Guidelines for Investing In Stable Value Post-2008,” provides a comprehensive overview and an excellent picture of what the stable value landscape looks like after the financial crisis.The question on many plan advisors’ minds is whether to offer stable value at... READ MORE

Tail Risk Events and Alternative Investments

By Jerry Bramlett | 12/24/2013

The distribution of possible events looks like a bell curve, with many everyday events in the middle and far fewer events in the tails. While these tail events occur infrequently, they can have a great impact on the overall financial system — both negative or positive. The negative (left) tail... READ MORE

Tactical Asset Allocation: A Risk Worth Taking?

By Jerry Bramlett | 12/18/2013

In a recent post on Alliance Bernstein's blog on investing, the author discusses “The Marriage of QDIAs and Managed Volatility in US DC Plans.” The post is mostly focused on controlling market risk in TDFs by adding a volatility-modifying component to the target-date funds glidepath (i.e., a... READ MORE

Revenue Sharing: Uneven Impact and Uneven Payout?

By Jerry Bramlett | 12/12/2013

A recent Wall Street Journal article addressed revenue sharing, dealing mostly with the important issue of the “uneven” impact that revenue sharing can have on DC investors’ fund expenses. There is, however, another side that needs to be explored as well: the uneven distribution of revenue sharing... READ MORE

Smart Beta: Definition and Efficacy

By Jerry Bramlett | 12/4/2013

The Financial Times Lexicon defines “smart beta” as “an umbrella term for rules-based investment strategies that do not use the conventional market capitalization weights that have been criticized for delivering sub-optimal returns by overweighting overvalued stocks and, conversely, underweighting... READ MORE

Challenging Conventional Target Date Strategies and Passive Money Management

By Jerry Bramlett | 11/25/2013

There are two significant trends in DC investing: the use of traditional glidepath strategies (reducing equity as an investor ages) and the use of mostly cap-weighted passive money management. Both of these movements are challenged in a recent article in The Journal of Retirement. “We believe that... READ MORE

What Lies Ahead? Inflation? Deflation?

By Jerry Bramlett | 11/11/2013

Today there is a widely held belief that, given loose monetary policies and continuing high federal deficits, at some point the U.S. economy is likely to experience hyperinflation. Consider this Wall Street Journal article, for example. Despite a doomsday scenario of hyperinflation — which, no... READ MORE

You are here

Jerry Bramlett

Pages

NAPA's 401(k) Rollover Specialist (k)RS Credential

Recent Headlines

Recent Comments