There are literally thousands of money managers out there. If you’re trying to figure out which one (or ones) is right for you to help you reach your investment goals, you may feel overwhelmed by all the options. Where do you begin researching and what criteria do you consider? We’d like to help. Each quarter, WrapManager’s Investment Policy Committee (IPC) compiles a list of top money manager picks in order to help investors discover and evaluate money manager strategies. These encompass a wide range of asset classes and investment disciplines. [+] Read More

Eagle Asset Management's Richard Skeppstrom urges patience in this month's Market Perspective. "When things don’t seem normal, we’re prone to action. Yes, we’ll wait around a bit expecting the familiar to return but we aren’t a patient species: somewhere between dogs and finches. The urge to do something overwhelms caution at some point. I believe we (the markets) are there. We’ve given up on the return of familiar. The genetic playbook is calling for action. Morgan Stanley is feeling it: The company just fired 25 percent of its fixed-income folks. Conclusion: Fixed income is crippled forever or Christmas is the best season for job searches? The epic merger boom: Zero organic growth is bad for my CEO pay or Goldman Sachs deserves more deal fees The U.S. Federal Reserve’s profound dithering over 25 basis points: Evidence of a desire to do something or a Fed out of options? [+] Read More

Money managers and the underlying investments can act as the fuel for your investment plan, propelling you toward your retirement goals and the future you’ve planned for yourself. Therefore, it’s important to choose your money manager carefully. There are some general rules of thumb that will help you to find the right strategy mix to help make your goals a reality. Finding a money manager can be time-consuming, however, and there are many other things you would rather be doing. Fortunately, financial advisors can serve two functions: they can create and monitor your investment plan, and they can also research money managers for you. Our new eBook, Guide to Researching Money Managers, will discuss the following topics that can help you better understand steps you can take when researching money managers: What's the Difference Between a Money Manager and a Financial Advisor? In short, money managers manage and financial advisors advise. Financial advisors understand individuals’ financial situations and create unique investment plans while money managers spend their time managing portfolio strategies. This section will go into more detail about the differences. [+] Read More

Richard Skeppstrom, of Eagle Asset Management's Strategic Return Portfolio, analyzes recent market volatility in Eagle's November Market Perspective. "As the third quarter came to a close, equity markets were a stumble away from panic. Bankruptcy concerns were playing havoc in the commodity space while technicians nervously watched for a Dow sell signal. If the Dow had closed below the August trough of 15666: a blood bath. I wrote that I was comfortable with my equity allocation and would just wait and see, ignoble action possibly resembling chicken excrement. Of course, my reluctance to do anything was a reliable buy signal. Don Hayes, the longstanding strategist at fondly remembered Wheat First Securities, used to say the markets will do whatever they can to confound the most. The rebound this month certainly qualifies. Not only has the market staged a striking rebound, but also sector leadership completely reversed. Energy and commodities – hated a few weeks ago – have led while healthcare has lagged. [+] Read More

ClearBridge Investments, a Legg Mason company, provides their Q3 commentary with discussion of the challenges and opportunities that exist within such a volatile market. "Market Commentary “Nothing any good isn’t hard.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald Memories of painful experiences are often a critical and adaptive part of living, in that painful memories can keep you out of harm’s way by minimizing repeat mistakes. The challenge, however, is that memories are highly subjective, and with the passage of time you often forget how intense something felt at the time. In the realm of physical pain, my biggest outlet for stress is training and competing in triathlons with my wife and several colleagues from ClearBridge. They are all better than me, which is painful enough, but I often don’t have enough time to fully prepare for the longer events. This inevitably leads me to swear off competing again, until I ultimately find myself standing in a cold body of water at the beginning of another grueling physical experience. In all seriousness, I love competing, and the rewards of doing so from a health and emotional perspective far outweigh short bouts of physical pain that are soon enough forgotten. [+] Read More

While market concerns had investors scrambling for the exists, Cambiar Investors took advantage of the market weakness in Q3 to deploy capital into a number of new investments. Read their Q3 2015 commentary below. "Market Review After fairly muted performance for the first half of 2015, global equities sold off in the third quarter. In contrast to prior pullbacks that were often met with buyers stepping in to buy the dips, investor sentiment towards stocks deteriorated considerably in the quarter. A popular Wall Street phrase is “stocks climb a wall of worry” – referring to the tendency for equity markets to overcome a host of negative factors and move higher. Yet is seems the wall got too high in the quarter. Global growth fears (led by China), increasing uncertainty of U.S. monetary policy, and continued pressure in Emerging Markets were just some of the concerns that had investors scrambling for the exits. While all of these factors warrant careful consideration, it is Cambiar’s view that the correction in the quarter was of the “shoot first/ask questions later” variety, vs. fundamentally driven. Given our value orientation, such reflexive selling can provide attractive entry points; to that extent, Cambiar used the market weakness to deploy capital into a number of new investments during the quarter. [+] Read More

There are literally thousands of money managers out there. If you’re trying to figure out which one (or ones) is right for you to help you reach your investment goals, you may feel overwhelmed by all the options. Where do you begin researching and what criteria do you consider? We’d like to help. Each quarter, Wrap Manager’s Investment Policy Committee (IPC) compiles a list of top money manager picks in order to help investors discover and evaluate money manager strategies. These encompass a wide range of asset classes and investment disciplines. [+] Read More

Clearbridge's Richard Freeman and Evan Bauman, provide their perspective on the second quarter discussing views on market volatility, focus sectors, and interest rates.  "Market overview and outlook U.S. stocks traded in a tight range during the second quarter, with the major indexes ending largely unchanged. The large cap S&P 500 Index gained 0.28% for the quarter, the small cap Russell 2000 Index added 0.42%, while the broad market Russell 3000 Index gained 0.14%. Volatility remained low as investors awaited a clear signal from the Federal Reserve on when it will commence raising short-term interest rates. The S&P 500 sustained its longest stretch without a 2% daily move up or down since 2007. That more than six-month stint was snapped on June 29 when the index fell 2.09% following the breakdown of talks between Greece and its creditors. The sharp drop – the largest for the S&P 500 since April 2014 – pared gains for most equity benchmarks. [+] Read More

To help investors discover and evaluate money manager strategies, WrapManager’s Investment Policy Committee highlights certain strategies each quarter. These encompass a wide range of asset classes and investment disciplines. Here are this quarter’s strategies: [+] Read More