We examine common asset allocation strategies for retirement investing, considering both static and dynamic approaches, as well as those allocation policies used by leading target date fund providers. We find that, over time, certain static approaches are essentially equivalent to dynamic...

Given the rapid growth of investment products focused on socially responsible investing (SRI), in March 2016 Morningstar began reporting standardized metrics to “grade” the Sustainability (i.e., SRI) level of thousands of mutual funds. While traditional financial theory suggests funds that...

The addition of the Fama and French (2015) profitability (RMW) and investment (CMA) factors to the standard four-factor model reveals persistent positive alpha after fees for mutual funds. Over the period 2000-2014, about 65 percent of fund managers have at least some skill, and about 15 percent...

We examine why mutual funds appear to underperform hedge funds. Utilizing a unique panel of mutual fund contracts changes, we explore several possible channels, including: alternative investment practices (e.g., short sales and leverage), performance-based compensation, and the ability to...

In a standard four factor framework, mutual fund return volatility is a reliable, persistent, and powerful predictor of future abnormal returns. However, the abnormal returns are eliminated by the addition of a “vol” anomaly factor contrasting returns on portfolios of low and high volatility...