Much has been written about the evolution of financial markets over time.  The flexibility of the system, diverse geographic access to markets, and the variety of investment options all contribute positively to investor choice.  This provides small investors with many tools to effectively manage their portfolios to reach investment objectives.  With all the progress made...Read More

Although both publicly traded REITs and private real estate funds follow the same investment thesis (invest in real estate by pooling investor capital), both fund types have historically provided different risk and return profiles to investors. To examine these differences, we will use the FTSE Nareit All REITs index (FNAR) as a proxy for publicly...Read More

The current risk/reward profile in the bond market is skewed more toward risk than reward.  Since yields are historically low at a time when durations are historically high, benchmark tethered fixed income investors and passive fixed income indexers are being compensated less for taking on more interest rate risk.  This diverging trend of yield versus...Read More

Before the pandemic, the NCREIF Property Index, a real estate index that tracks the unlevered gross returns of over $742B in real estate properties throughout the United States, posted average annual returns of 8.28%(1) from 2015 to 2019.  At the height of the pandemic (March 2020), returns fell to less than 2% for the first...Read More

Traditionally, investors have been able to count on bonds as a primary source of income.  However, with interest rates beginning 2021 near historic lows and spreads near the tighter end of their range, the set-up for fixed income coming into this year was not particularly attractive.  From a macro perspective, we were forecasting an improving...Read More

ESG – Information Overload to Strategic Clarity In his May 12, 2021 article in Forbes Magazine, Halsey Schreier says “while widely recognized, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is an umbrella term that often means different things to different people.” A simple google search will reveal massive amounts of ESG information with different implications for various...Read More

Not all economic downturns are created equal as highlighted in the difference between real estate distressed investing from the Global Financial Crisis (“GFC”, 2010 to 2012) when compared to the COVID-19 pandemic era crisis. This blog post will explore the differences in real estate distressed investing during these two time periods. Distressed investing in the...Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted people’s lives in many ways, fortunately, the rapid and aggressive use of fiscal and monetary stimulus provided significant support to the economy and financial markets around the world. This assistance, coupled with multiple approved vaccines, has now brought us closer to the other side of the pandemic with central bankers...Read More

While much of the United States is beginning to open back up with the recent rollout of vaccines nationwide, there is still considerable uncertainty about the lasting effects on the commercial real estate market because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Real Capital Analytics (“RCA”) reports that commercial property sales were up 66% from a year earlier...Read More

At Boyd Watterson, our fixed income philosophy is centered on our belief that over time, active management can likely generate attractive risk-adjusted returns.  We believe this is best achieved by taking a strategic view of macroeconomic and market factors coupled with a value-driven decision-making process and rigorous application of risk-management controls. Our process focuses on...Read More