“It Is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding It.” This quote from Upton Sinclair might resonate with proponents of passive investing who nd themselves faced with another argument for active management, written by a commentator whose salary is indeed paid for by active management.

One Of the challenges Of being a bOttOm-up investOr is that there are always mOre cOmpanies than yOu can pOssibly research. This is why, in an attempt to help my colleagues, I have tried to straddle micro and macro (call it mezza), keeping an eye on the aggre- gate equity markets and their dynamics as a subject on their own to see if there are things happening that are strange or noteworthy.

In recent years, the Insurance Group at Wellington Management has seen a growing number of insurers express an interest in undertaking a strategic asset allocation (AA) study. The low-yield environment of the past few years, along with the core xed income-centric nature of insurance portfolios and a widely anticipated future rise in interest rates, all seem to be contributing to this surge in interest.