In 2008, the financial sector faced one of its worst crises, which led to the fall of some of the biggest names in the industry. As a result of that crisis, portfolio managers have been constantly on the lookout for ways to mitigate risks and ensure profitability amid the unexpected developments in the world of asset management. Turning to alternative investments has been one such course.
Most fund managers refer to alternative investments as funds whose dynamic run contrary to the movement of traditional investments such as bonds and public equities, and the rest of the market. Thus, it can be said they promote portfolio stability. Among the types of alternative investments are private equity funds, hedge funds, and real estate.
Two years ago, alternative assets accounted for 12% of the industry assets globally. The numbers are expected to rise further: By 2020, experts predict that alternatives’ share will be 15%. Key to this expected growth is a client base that more and more appreciates the strategies being employed by fund managers to address the risks associated with alternative investments.
Furthermore, alternative asset managers are becoming increasingly regulated, and they have been responding well, through the adoption of services and technology that boost transparency and efficiency in operations. With this development, financial advisors and the fund managers themselves will be more confident about presenting alternative investments as a truly profitable venture to the erstwhile hesitant client-investors.
Truly, alternative investments present a lot of opportunities for asset diversification – a popular strategy to minimize risks amid a fast-changing financial landscape. It is a landscape that has been welcoming the entry of new players and heightened interest in new markets across the globe, especially in Asia. This year, for example, a Deutsche Bank survey revealed that 30% of investors are keen on investing in China and over 25%, in India, with the figures representing an increase of about 12% and 21%, respectively.
To find growth in the alternative assets scene, it is important that fund managers leverage middle and back office solutions to aid in fund administration, accounting, reporting, data management, and client relation functions. Having the human resources and the technology infrastructure to provide support in these roles spell the difference between high-performing alternative assets managers from the rest. And as is often the case in the financial sector, good performance only leads to more investors, which lends the opportunity for even greater success.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
My Journey Towards Ethical Eating (Part 5): Questions to Ask
This article is part of an article series. Check out the earlier parts of this series here, here, here and here.
For this entry, I’d like to list down the many questions to ask each time you pick up an item at the supermarket, or point to a dish on a restaurant menu.
On farm practices. From which farm does your local mart or cafe source its agricultural products? What can they say about said farm’s production practices? Can you visit and will they be proud of what you’ll see? Are they small and family-owned, or are they a huge agricultural complex with mechanized systems (or somewhere in between)? Are their practices disturbing the ecological balance, or can they be seamlessly integrated within the Earth’s cycles to renew itself? Do they observe soil-building principles?
On labels. Like I explained in my previous entry, there are a lot of terms used to refer to supposedly sustainable products, but they can be confusing. For example, while organic cattle should have some access to pasture, but it might not fill all the criteria to be called pasture-raised. Another example: Pasture-raised beef is not always grass-fed, the cow may also have been fed with grains sometimes. Similarly, cattle can be grass-fed but not necessarily in a pasture. So the important question is, what exactly does its label mean? Additionally, who assigned this label? Was it self-proclaimed, or was it, in fact, certified organic, free-range, or pasture-raised?
On the people behind the products. Who picked the eggs to be used for my croque madame? Were they paid the right wages and provided with the benefits they need and deserve? Were they protected from the harms that come with farm work? Or were they exposed to toxic pesticides? If I pay for this item, how much of my money will actually go to them? Or will the profits simply end up in the pockets of a multinational corporation’s executives?
On the plants and animals. Were they treated with respect? In what conditions were they raised? Were they not crammed together in tight spaces all the time? Were they injected with chemicals that undermined their own natural body processes? Or can one say that they lived a happy and peaceful life? As for fruits and vegetables, what was used on them as they grew? Was that piece of pear bathed with pesticides for it to land smooth and spot-free on your hands?
I hope that this series about my journey towards ethical eating has inspired you to ask questions, to know more about how diet affects our bodies, our fellow living creatures, and our planet.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his profiles here and here.
For this entry, I’d like to list down the many questions to ask each time you pick up an item at the supermarket, or point to a dish on a restaurant menu.
On farm practices. From which farm does your local mart or cafe source its agricultural products? What can they say about said farm’s production practices? Can you visit and will they be proud of what you’ll see? Are they small and family-owned, or are they a huge agricultural complex with mechanized systems (or somewhere in between)? Are their practices disturbing the ecological balance, or can they be seamlessly integrated within the Earth’s cycles to renew itself? Do they observe soil-building principles?
On labels. Like I explained in my previous entry, there are a lot of terms used to refer to supposedly sustainable products, but they can be confusing. For example, while organic cattle should have some access to pasture, but it might not fill all the criteria to be called pasture-raised. Another example: Pasture-raised beef is not always grass-fed, the cow may also have been fed with grains sometimes. Similarly, cattle can be grass-fed but not necessarily in a pasture. So the important question is, what exactly does its label mean? Additionally, who assigned this label? Was it self-proclaimed, or was it, in fact, certified organic, free-range, or pasture-raised?
On the people behind the products. Who picked the eggs to be used for my croque madame? Were they paid the right wages and provided with the benefits they need and deserve? Were they protected from the harms that come with farm work? Or were they exposed to toxic pesticides? If I pay for this item, how much of my money will actually go to them? Or will the profits simply end up in the pockets of a multinational corporation’s executives?
On the plants and animals. Were they treated with respect? In what conditions were they raised? Were they not crammed together in tight spaces all the time? Were they injected with chemicals that undermined their own natural body processes? Or can one say that they lived a happy and peaceful life? As for fruits and vegetables, what was used on them as they grew? Was that piece of pear bathed with pesticides for it to land smooth and spot-free on your hands?
I hope that this series about my journey towards ethical eating has inspired you to ask questions, to know more about how diet affects our bodies, our fellow living creatures, and our planet.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his profiles here and here.
Monday, November 16, 2015
My Journey Towards Ethical Eating (Part 4): Tenets of Ethical Eating
This article is part of an article series. Check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Many food activists push for S.O.L.E food, where S stands for Sustainable, O for Organic, L for Local, and E for ethical. In my case, the more I read on the topic, I found that these tenets are overlapping most of the time.
Based on my understanding, this is what it means:
Sustainable. The production system behind the food is aligned with nature’s own processes. For example, a farm that uses natural waste instead of fertilizers to enrich the soil can be called sustainable, in that it does not introduce a synthetic substance that will change its composition. Foraged items from the woods or fields like mushrooms and berries are sustainable because they are picked while in season, and does not entail converting the land and clearing off weeds and other organisms to make way for a single species.
Organic. When a slab of meat or a cluster of broccoli bears the sign ‘organic,’ it means that it was grown without the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, or fertilizers and pesticides, respectively. In addition, organic farm animals are allowed to graze because they are supposed to get food from natural sources. At this point, lines can get blurred; you will be encountering the following terms: free-range, grass-fed, natural, pasture-raised, or cage-free, and while related, they are not exactly the same, although some descriptors can be subsumed under another.
Local. Consuming local means frequenting your farmers’ market to look for the freshest produce. Local is almost always seasonal food, it’s generally guaranteed to taste better. More importantly, local food did not travel far to get to the market. In the US, the 2008 Food, Conservation and Energy Act says that an ingredient may be described as "locally or regionally produced” if its origin is within 400 miles. If this is the case, it means less carbon footprint, and you help the farmers sustain their livelihood.
Ethical. Concerns regarding the ethics of food production may involve the food item itself, the farmers who grow the plants or animals or the workers who create the product, or the corporation or the industry’s impact on the environment or society. Animal rights activists focus on matters of animal cruelty in farms, while social activists condemn companies such as Nestle for their horrible treatment of its workers. Finally, some groups target Monsanto and the like for polluting water systems and promoting the use of pesticides that harm the soil.
Many food activists push for S.O.L.E food, where S stands for Sustainable, O for Organic, L for Local, and E for ethical. In my case, the more I read on the topic, I found that these tenets are overlapping most of the time.
Based on my understanding, this is what it means:
Sustainable. The production system behind the food is aligned with nature’s own processes. For example, a farm that uses natural waste instead of fertilizers to enrich the soil can be called sustainable, in that it does not introduce a synthetic substance that will change its composition. Foraged items from the woods or fields like mushrooms and berries are sustainable because they are picked while in season, and does not entail converting the land and clearing off weeds and other organisms to make way for a single species.
Organic. When a slab of meat or a cluster of broccoli bears the sign ‘organic,’ it means that it was grown without the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, or fertilizers and pesticides, respectively. In addition, organic farm animals are allowed to graze because they are supposed to get food from natural sources. At this point, lines can get blurred; you will be encountering the following terms: free-range, grass-fed, natural, pasture-raised, or cage-free, and while related, they are not exactly the same, although some descriptors can be subsumed under another.
Local. Consuming local means frequenting your farmers’ market to look for the freshest produce. Local is almost always seasonal food, it’s generally guaranteed to taste better. More importantly, local food did not travel far to get to the market. In the US, the 2008 Food, Conservation and Energy Act says that an ingredient may be described as "locally or regionally produced” if its origin is within 400 miles. If this is the case, it means less carbon footprint, and you help the farmers sustain their livelihood.
Ethical. Concerns regarding the ethics of food production may involve the food item itself, the farmers who grow the plants or animals or the workers who create the product, or the corporation or the industry’s impact on the environment or society. Animal rights activists focus on matters of animal cruelty in farms, while social activists condemn companies such as Nestle for their horrible treatment of its workers. Finally, some groups target Monsanto and the like for polluting water systems and promoting the use of pesticides that harm the soil.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his profiles here, here and here.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
My Journey Towards Ethical Eating (Part 3): The Great Debate
This article is part of an article series. Check out Part 1 and Part 2.
The food movement for ethical eating that I introduced in the previous entry is not monolithic. To the contrary, there are so many strands of food activists, each pushing for a different set of parameters against which we should evaluate the way we eat.
It’s a safe bet, however, to say that many of them are vegetarians, who believe that animal farming is a terribly unsustainable industry that is harming the planet.
Indeed, many animal farms these days are commercial or industrial, and we know what that means: The underlying goal is to put in to the production process as little investment as possible, while ensuring the maximum number or amount of output.
Because many of these meat factories are trying to cut corners, they compromise on a lot of things: They cram the animals in small spaces. They inject antibiotics and chemicals to speed up their growth unnaturally. They do not invest in a treatment process for their wastewater. They bring their meat products to far places where they have a market or distributor. And all of these mean that animal farms create a lot of waste and carbon footprint.
But I myself am not a vegetarian, owing to my great love of a fine steak, lobsters, cake frosting, and cheese. Let me share an important argument meat-eating food activists have been saying: To say that vegetarians are off the hook when it comes to sustaining life on Earth is misleading, and in fact, wrong.
For example, biologists have pointed out that plants are intelligent creatures, too. For her part, Lierre Keith who authored five books on the impact of agriculture on our planet, makes an interesting point: “If you are eating agricultural foods, you are eating dead species, dead rivers, dead communities. People have to understand what agriculture is: In very brute terms, you take a piece of land, you clear every living thing off it, and you plant it for human use.” And I very much get her point, which makes me feel a bit better about being an omnivore.
Still, I know that there is much to be desired when it comes to meat production in the United States and around the world. So, whenever I come to a fancy restaurant and order, I try to look for dishes that make use of ethically produced meat. Or more accurately, I take this step as early as when I am choosing which restaurant to dine in. In the next entry, I’ll discuss the tenets of ethical eating I try to live by.
The food movement for ethical eating that I introduced in the previous entry is not monolithic. To the contrary, there are so many strands of food activists, each pushing for a different set of parameters against which we should evaluate the way we eat.
It’s a safe bet, however, to say that many of them are vegetarians, who believe that animal farming is a terribly unsustainable industry that is harming the planet.
Indeed, many animal farms these days are commercial or industrial, and we know what that means: The underlying goal is to put in to the production process as little investment as possible, while ensuring the maximum number or amount of output.
Because many of these meat factories are trying to cut corners, they compromise on a lot of things: They cram the animals in small spaces. They inject antibiotics and chemicals to speed up their growth unnaturally. They do not invest in a treatment process for their wastewater. They bring their meat products to far places where they have a market or distributor. And all of these mean that animal farms create a lot of waste and carbon footprint.
But I myself am not a vegetarian, owing to my great love of a fine steak, lobsters, cake frosting, and cheese. Let me share an important argument meat-eating food activists have been saying: To say that vegetarians are off the hook when it comes to sustaining life on Earth is misleading, and in fact, wrong.
For example, biologists have pointed out that plants are intelligent creatures, too. For her part, Lierre Keith who authored five books on the impact of agriculture on our planet, makes an interesting point: “If you are eating agricultural foods, you are eating dead species, dead rivers, dead communities. People have to understand what agriculture is: In very brute terms, you take a piece of land, you clear every living thing off it, and you plant it for human use.” And I very much get her point, which makes me feel a bit better about being an omnivore.
Still, I know that there is much to be desired when it comes to meat production in the United States and around the world. So, whenever I come to a fancy restaurant and order, I try to look for dishes that make use of ethically produced meat. Or more accurately, I take this step as early as when I am choosing which restaurant to dine in. In the next entry, I’ll discuss the tenets of ethical eating I try to live by.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his Tumblr blog and YouTube page.
Monday, November 9, 2015
My Journey Towards Ethical Eating (Part 2): The Ironies in Our Food Industry
This is part of an article series. Check out part 1 here.
As I continue to talk about ethical eating, and lest I be misunderstood, I would like to disclaim that I love food. To me it’s one of life’s joys, and truly our tastebuds and our body respond well when we get the kind of food that we want. We feel happy, we get into a great mood, and we become ready to seize the day.
That I love food is precisely why I’d like to contribute to the discussion on eating. Indeed a lot of authors have talked about this oxymoronic, love-hate relationship mankind has with food, and I’d like to say that for my part, I want none of the hate. I simply want to address the current food situation so that all of us can just eat and live in peace, with our fellow creatures on Earth.
The truth is, we are facing a very, very sad irony. Today, we have an array of drastically improved technologies, mechanisms, and processes to produce food on the table for every human being on the planet. We have mastered agriculture as a science, and have allocated millions and millions of tracts of land for the purpose of growing plants and animals that we can later eat. And yet, millions of people across the globe are hungry, or do not meet the daily recommended dietary allowance for nutrients, in order to become productive citizens. In Africa children are dying of malnutrition, and more are at risk.
Most of the farmers who are responsible for creating food, are some of the poorest members of society in the developing world. Those who are fortunate to own their land, meanwhile, face the tough competition as big multi-national corporations operate according to a centralized notion of production, with a huge capital to expend for machinery, pesticides, and fertilizers.
Moreover, while agriculture has become much more advanced over the decades, a lot of people are suffering from diabetes, liver disease, kidney problems and other health conditions directly linked to poor diet. It would seem that the way we have been producing food has not addressed what should be its main function: provide sustenance for the human body.
These ironies have since incited a growing movement for good food. And when I say good food, I mean delicious food that will give our bodies the much-needed nutrients, while also coming from sources that do not disrupt the ecological balance.
As I continue to talk about ethical eating, and lest I be misunderstood, I would like to disclaim that I love food. To me it’s one of life’s joys, and truly our tastebuds and our body respond well when we get the kind of food that we want. We feel happy, we get into a great mood, and we become ready to seize the day.
That I love food is precisely why I’d like to contribute to the discussion on eating. Indeed a lot of authors have talked about this oxymoronic, love-hate relationship mankind has with food, and I’d like to say that for my part, I want none of the hate. I simply want to address the current food situation so that all of us can just eat and live in peace, with our fellow creatures on Earth.
The truth is, we are facing a very, very sad irony. Today, we have an array of drastically improved technologies, mechanisms, and processes to produce food on the table for every human being on the planet. We have mastered agriculture as a science, and have allocated millions and millions of tracts of land for the purpose of growing plants and animals that we can later eat. And yet, millions of people across the globe are hungry, or do not meet the daily recommended dietary allowance for nutrients, in order to become productive citizens. In Africa children are dying of malnutrition, and more are at risk.
Most of the farmers who are responsible for creating food, are some of the poorest members of society in the developing world. Those who are fortunate to own their land, meanwhile, face the tough competition as big multi-national corporations operate according to a centralized notion of production, with a huge capital to expend for machinery, pesticides, and fertilizers.
Moreover, while agriculture has become much more advanced over the decades, a lot of people are suffering from diabetes, liver disease, kidney problems and other health conditions directly linked to poor diet. It would seem that the way we have been producing food has not addressed what should be its main function: provide sustenance for the human body.
These ironies have since incited a growing movement for good food. And when I say good food, I mean delicious food that will give our bodies the much-needed nutrients, while also coming from sources that do not disrupt the ecological balance.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his social media profiles here, here and here.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
My Journey Towards Ethical Eating (Part 1): An Invitation
I will begin this entry with this argument: There is something very wrong with the way Americans eat today. Along with that is an invitation to consider the idea of a paradigm shift. I have been reading up on the concept of ethical eating and/or sustainable diet, and I understand the very first sentiment you will probably have, it’s really difficult to say where to begin.
But let me tell you that I myself have not been a really conscious eater until a few years ago. I was raised in these staples of American diet: cereals and milk, ready-mix pancakes, or hotdogs and eggs with bread for breakfast, whatever they serve at the school cafeteria for lunch, then for dinner, mom’s meaty, salty, and fatty dishes with sides of chips or mashed potatoes, then pies for dessert. Throughout the day there’d be a lot of candies, chips, softdrinks and other junk food too. As far as I know, my family sourced these items from the grocery, and it’s a family bonding experience, driving there to get the goodies and point to chocolates for my parents to buy.
When I have moved out of my parents’ home and started working on my nine-to-five job, my diet has changed – for the worse. No proper breakfast for me anymore, just a tall latte from a coffee shop, although sometimes I also grab very sugary pastries. For lunch and dinner it’s fast food most of the time, except when I had time to pack a sandwich, or during my payday, when officemates and I would head to a restaurant. And like when I was growing up, I subsisted in a lot of sweet treats between meals, too.
For some time I thought this was the only way to do it, because it was the case for almost everyone around me as well. With my very unhealthy diet, I found myself not having the right weight, but again, so did everybody else.
That’s until I found myself in the development world and met people whose diet formed a part of a sustainable lifestyle. And it helped that we are also having a national conversation on the relationship with obesity, health, and diet in America. As soon as I embraced the tenets of environmentalism, changing the way I eat just made a lot of sense. Check out my next entries as I continue to share my journey towards ethical eating.
But let me tell you that I myself have not been a really conscious eater until a few years ago. I was raised in these staples of American diet: cereals and milk, ready-mix pancakes, or hotdogs and eggs with bread for breakfast, whatever they serve at the school cafeteria for lunch, then for dinner, mom’s meaty, salty, and fatty dishes with sides of chips or mashed potatoes, then pies for dessert. Throughout the day there’d be a lot of candies, chips, softdrinks and other junk food too. As far as I know, my family sourced these items from the grocery, and it’s a family bonding experience, driving there to get the goodies and point to chocolates for my parents to buy.
When I have moved out of my parents’ home and started working on my nine-to-five job, my diet has changed – for the worse. No proper breakfast for me anymore, just a tall latte from a coffee shop, although sometimes I also grab very sugary pastries. For lunch and dinner it’s fast food most of the time, except when I had time to pack a sandwich, or during my payday, when officemates and I would head to a restaurant. And like when I was growing up, I subsisted in a lot of sweet treats between meals, too.
For some time I thought this was the only way to do it, because it was the case for almost everyone around me as well. With my very unhealthy diet, I found myself not having the right weight, but again, so did everybody else.
That’s until I found myself in the development world and met people whose diet formed a part of a sustainable lifestyle. And it helped that we are also having a national conversation on the relationship with obesity, health, and diet in America. As soon as I embraced the tenets of environmentalism, changing the way I eat just made a lot of sense. Check out my next entries as I continue to share my journey towards ethical eating.
This is a guest blog post by Richard A Kimball. To learn more about him, check out his LinkedIn and Pinterest pages.
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