Equity Smart Beta and Factor Investing for Practitioners - Hardcover

Ghayur, Khalid; Heaney, Ronan G.; Platt, Stephen C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1119583225 ISBN 13: 9781119583226

Publisher: Wiley, 2019

Synopsis

A guide to the popular and fast growing investment opportunities of smart beta

Equity Smart Beta and Factor Investing for Practitioners offers a hands-on guide to the popular investment opportunities of smart beta, which is one of the fastest growing areas within the global equity asset class. This well-balanced book is written in accessible and understandable terms and contains an in-depth manual filled with analytical information and new ideas.

The authors―noted experts in the field―include a definition of smart beta investing and detail its history. They also explore the distinguishing characteristics of smart beta strategies, offer an overview of factor investing, and reveal the implementation of smart beta approaches. Comprehensive in scope, the book contains helpful examples of applications, real-life illustrative case studies, and contributions from leading and respected practitioners that explain how they approach smart beta investing.  This important book:

• Contains an in-depth exploration of smart beta investing
• Includes the information written in clear and accessible language
• Presents helpful case studies, illustrative examples, and contributions from leading and respected experts
• Offers a must have resource coauthored by the Head of Goldman Sachs’ equity smart beta business

Written for investors who want to tap into the opportunities that smart beta offers, Equity Smart Beta and Factor Investing for Practitioners is the comprehensive resource for learning how to create more efficient overall equity portfolios. 

About this title

About the Author

KHALID (Kal) GHAYUR, CFA, FSIP, is Managing Director, Head of ActiveBeta Equity Strategies, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He oversees his team's customized, factor-based equity portfolios. Prior to joining GSAM, Kal was the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer for Westpeak Global Advisors, a pioneer in the smart beta space.

RONAN G. HEANEY is Vice President, Head of ActiveBeta Equity Research, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He leads investment research activities, including improving quantitative investment models and portfolio construction methodologies and identifying and testing new model components and implementation techniques.

STEPHEN C. PLATT, CFA, is Vice President, Head of ActiveBeta Equity Portfolio Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He is responsible for portfolio management, including portfolio construction and risk management of global developed and emerging market equity portfolios and custom indexes.

From the Back Cover

The comprehensive guide to the rapidly growing investment opportunities of smart beta investing

Smart beta investing is the fastest growing area within the equity asset class. Changing the way investors structure their overall equity portfolios, smart beta strategies emphasize the use of alternative weighting schemes to traditional market capitalization-based indexes. This important innovation is highly popular within the investments industry and has prompted the launch of numerous smart beta products. Equity Smart Beta and Factor Investing for Practitioners is the first full-length book focused on this exciting array of offerings.

This practical, hands-on guide shares the practitioner's perspective on smart beta investing, combining straightforward readability with in-depth content and cutting-edge ideas. Drawing from their experiences leading the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta team, the authors share real-life case studies, explain factor investing, define and detail the history of smart beta, and examine smart beta characteristics, strategies, and implementation methods. Equity Smart Beta and Factor Investing for Practitioners also features contributions from leading industry experts, including a variety of asset owners, asset managers, and consultants. Covering everything from explaining return premia to structuring better equity portfolios, this book will prove to be a valuable resource for anyone engaged in smart beta and factor investing.

From the Inside Flap

Combining the benefits of passive investing with the advantages of active investing strategies, equity smart beta and factor investing is an increasingly discussed and debated topic within the investments industry. When properly implemented, smart beta reduces risk or increases diversification at a cost lower than traditional active management and marginally higher than straight index investing, resulting in an optimally diversified portfolio. A recent survey of asset owners, representing over $3.5 trillion in assets worldwide, found that 77% of respondents have already evaluated or implemented smart beta strategies, or are planning to do so. Accordingly, smart beta adoption rates increased from 26% in 2015 to 48% in 2018. The wide range and growing variety of smart beta products available in the marketplace can prove to be overwhelming for investors often struggling with how to analyze and select such products. Factor specifications, weighting schemes, and methodologies used to control turnover, diversification, or capacity are just some of the factors that influence variances in smart beta offerings.

Equity Smart Beta and Factor Investing for Practitioners satisfies the need for straightforward, accurate investor education on this important innovation in the field of investments. Written from the practitioner's perspective, this book helps readers understand the theoretical underpinnings of smart beta investing, analyze and select smart beta strategies, structure more efficient portfolios, and gain insights from other practitioners who have successfully implemented smart beta investing in their portfolios. This comprehensive book on smart beta investing:

• Reviews the evolution, definition, and composition of the equity smart beta space and identifies desirable characteristics of smart beta offerings
• Discusses the origins and theory of factor investing and risk-based, behavioral, and structural explanations of why factor premia exist
• Offers a framework for understanding and analyzing various weighting schemes used to capture smart beta factor returns
• Explains performance characteristics of smart beta factor strategies
• Provides examples of factor investing beyond equities, smart beta implementation, portfolio structuring, and multistrategy, multimanager portfolios

Equity Smart Beta and Factor Investing for Practitioners will prove to be a valuable, hands-on manual for both investors and managers seeking to set appropriate expectations and maintain discipline during difficult times, improve the ability to achieve long-term objectives, structure more efficient overall equity portfolios, and achieve better investment outcomes.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1119583225
• ISBN 13: 9781119583226
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496