Non-US bonds are increasingly popular with investors trying to control the risk of domestic bond positions by diversifying. But international bonds carry some risks to American investors. For example, a British bond might appreciate handsomely when valued in pounds sterling. But if over the same period the pound sterling falls relative to the US dollar, the net effect for an American investor might be negative. As a result, bond mutual funds are often sold in two flavors, one hedged against this currency risk, the other not.

Which sort of fund is right for which sort of investor? What other factors should influence an investor’s decision about foreign bonds?

A retrospective on Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, bonds that were first sold by the U.S. Treasury in 1997, that examines their behavior during the financial crises of the first decade of the new millennium, and examines three different types of TIPS funds to discover the pros and cons of each.

My recent presentation at the Chicago ALI-ABA conference on Representing Estate and Trust Beneficiaries and Fiduciaries is available below.

The title of the presentation is “Managing Modest-Sized Family Trust Portfolios: Issues in Income Adequacy and Portfolio Sustainability.” Documents include a PowerPoint slide presentation plus supplemental commentary.

The full title of the paper published in two parts in the February and March, 2011 issues of the Banking Law Journal is: Trustee Asset Management Elections: Portfolio Performance Evaluation and Preferencing Criteria. What on Earth is a preferencing criterion, and why should we care? Patrick discusses the effect that different measures of portfolio behavior can have on portfolio management decisions.

This paper addresses the demand to hold life insurance in retirement where the investor makes the retain or surrender decision concurrently with the asset allocation decision. This paper was co-authored by Patrick J. Collins and Huy D. Lam. It is in the process of being reviewed for publication.

If you are involved in the administration and management of trust-owned assets—either actively or in your capacity as legal counsel the document attached below entitled: “Managing Trust Investments: An Interactive Decision Making Process” may be of interest.

The relevant period for investment decision making is the future. Evaluation of an investment’s track record can provide information regarding its performance in past economies. However, a trustee must develop a portfolio to meet future needs. Confusing past track record (performance measures) with strategies appropriate for future needs (preferencing criteria) can derail an investment program.

A review of the most important things investors should understand about Asset Allocation, Diversification and Correlation.

Investors withdrawing money from their portfolios are often concerned about the “probability of ruin,” where ruin is defined as the depletion of the portfolio prior to either a fixed date, or prior to a random date such as the end of retirement (i.e., the end of one’s lifetime). Read this article to gain insight on how to manage those needs with the reality of today’s volatile markets.

This article was co-written by Patrick Collins and Josh Stampfli. It was published in the December 2009 issue of the Banking Law Journal.