Titan Talks is back again this week with another brilliant episode. In this episode, Nicholas Milano (Titan Investor’s colleague and our host) welcomes Ralph Goldsticker, the Chief Investment Officer of Alan Biller and Associates. It is an investment consulting firm based in Menlo Park with over $100 billion in assets under management.
Besides his work life, Ralph likes to spend time hiking. He has hiked up Mt. Whitney, around Las Vegas and Death Valley, and across the Grand Canyon many times.
The objective of today’s episode will be to explore
- Some of the behavioral biases in asset allocation.
- Important considerations in the manager selection process, and
- Issues with traditional metrics
Indeed, all of them are essential aspects of building a portfolio.
Here’s a slight glimpse of the recent discussion between Nicholas and Ralph. If you want to learn about them deeply, watch the complete episode!
Signs that Investors are Chasing Performance
Ralph says that he has often heard clients say ‘the market is going up’ or ‘the manager is doing great.’ It clearly means that the client is expecting that the market will persist the same way. However, it’s not the correct behavior.
He says that you must keep your past behaviors in check and fix them.
How Overconfidence Bias Impacts Asset Allocators
Ralph told about her recent presentation, whose topic was diversification vs. overconfidence. He emphasized the message of his presentation in the answer, i.e., acknowledging the benefits of diversification and the limits of our skills at allocating.
He also says that diversification protects venture capitalists from the associated risks as we often ignore the past records. To know more about his views on diversification, watch the complete video.
Crucial Questions to Ask When Selecting Managers
Ralph says he has two primary questions when reviewing the managers. And those are;
- What’s the manager’s edge?
- Why do you think it will persist?
Pet Peeves With Traditional Metrics And Better Alternatives
Ralph said that many of the traditional metrics are flawed. One of them is upside vs. downside capture. He said that people think that if you have upside vs. downside capture, you have a good process or have market timing skills. However, the statistics are flawed, he continued.
To know more about what specifics Ralph talks about, give the video a complete watch.
Titan Investors keep coming with such educational talks every week. If you don’t want to miss them, follow us on LinkedIn.
Titan Investor, co-founded by William McArdle and Thomas Mallon, is a boutique consulting firm. While Williams has spent five years, Thomas has spent six years building relationships with institutional investors, RIAs, family offices, real estate funds, and operators across North America. In addition, Williams also has three years of work experience at Stifel Nicholas catering to ultra-high-net-worth clients, making the duo the best investment professionals for their clients.