Tag: Retirement Income

Improving Alpha: A Zero Sum Behavioral Psychology Approach for Innovative Allocators

Improving Alpha: A Zero Sum Behavioral Psychology Approach for Innovative Allocators

In the world of finance, there are many discussions around the topics of economic challenges or inequality when it comes to how asset managers or asset owners navigate the market. The volume certainly increases on this theme around bonus time when performance incentives are being paid out despite market volatility and declining returns.

 In this episode, Michael Oliver Weinberg, co-founder, Improving Alpha Podcast Series, is joined by Shai Davidai, Assistant Professor, Management Division, Columbia Business School, to go under the hood of economic behavioral psychology at work across asset managers and owners.

Shai discusses: 

  • How economic inequality is different from economic mobility and why we tend to overestimate upward mobility. 
  • How philanthropy factors into the internal attributions that people assume about the person that is promoting their Giving Pledge.
  • How does the hypothesis of a zero-sum game factor into an asset manager or owner’s strategic plan?
  • How does the zero-sum game tie itself into organizations and retaining talent by offering either a zero-sum incentive program vs. a non-zero-sum program.
  • And more!

Connect with Shai Davidai:

About Our Guest:

Shai Davidai is Assistant Professor in the Management Division of Columbia Business School. His research examines people’s everyday judgments of themselves, other people, and society as a whole. He studies the psychological forces that shape, distort, and bias people’s perceptions of the world and their influence on people’s judgments, preferences, and choices. His topics of expertise include the psychology of judgment and decision making, economic inequality and social mobility, social comparisons, and zero-sum thinking.

His work has been published in top-tier journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Perspectives on Psychological Sciences, and the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.

Shai received his PhD from Cornell University in 2015. Prior to joining Columbia Business School, Shai spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and 3 years as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg: 

To learn more about our host visit: https://www.vidrio.com/blog/improving-alpha-podcast-columbia-business-davidai

The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.

Improving Alpha: Jonathan Grabel, LACERA on Consolidating a Strategic Asset Allocation for Growth

Improving Alpha: Jonathan Grabel, LACERA on Consolidating a Strategic Asset Allocation for Growth

Allocators today can’t predict the future state of the market, especially given recent volatility, needing to rely on several viewpoints and data benchmarks to reach their goal. This is true in the case of LACERA where Jonathan Grabel and his team manage over $70 billion in AUM.

In this episode of Improving Alpha – Innovation in Investing, ESG & Technology, Michael Oliver Weinberg, co-founder, Improving Alpha Podcast Series, is joined by Jonathan Grabel, Chief Investment Officer, LACERA. Learn about Jonathan’s career journey and how he has achieved a high degree of professional happiness by working in a public pension like LACERA.

Jonathan discusses: 

  • How LACERA addresses market volatility today and how innovation plays into that strategic allocation focus. 
  • How LACERA views ESG in a three-dimensional space and what factors help optimize LACERA’s fiduciary duties for their members.
  • The intersection between technology and ESG and how human capital helps evaluate new investments.
  • Moving from a monthly close to a daily NAV, and how it helped LACERA improve portfolio monitoring.
  • LACERA’s co-investment program and the growth it has seen in outpacing its private equity allocations.
  • Investment inefficiencies and innovating through investment seeding, and how it can provide a new revenue stream to LACERA.
  • Observing investment teams that support DE&I and the performance impact to their investment strategies.
  • And more

Resources:

Connect with Jonathan Grabel:

About Our Guest:

Mr. Grabel manages the multibillion-dollar defined benefit pension fund on behalf of LACERA’s active and retired members. He also oversees the investments for the LACERA-administered healthcare benefits program.

Prior to LACERA, Mr. Grabel was the CIO for New Mexico PERA, where he oversaw the investments for the agency’s $15 billion defined benefit fund and the associated PERA SmartSave deferred compensation plan. 

Previously, he was a general partner at a private equity firm focused on growth-stage investments in technology, networking industries, and digital communications. Earlier in his career, Mr. Grabel was an investment banker and licensed CPA (inactive). He received his Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg: 

To learn more about our host visit: https://www.vidrio.com/blog/improving-alpha-podcast-lacera-grabel 

The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.