Merrill Lynch Wealth Management today announced The Great Global Shift: New World, New Rules, a white paper and webcast designed to help advisors and investors navigate the unpredictable global market and seize emerging opportunities.
White paper authors Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer and head of Investment Management and Guidance for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, address worldwide investor concerns and identify opportunities presented by the seismic changes in the balance of power driving today’s markets.
The webcast features Shalett and Bremmer and is moderated by Ron Insana, senior analyst and commentator for CNBC.
“The Great Global Shift: New World, New Rules” explores new investment approaches in light of the changing global economy. Signaling instability, developed countries are turning inward to fix infrastructure and financial problems; at the same time, emerging-market nations are showing promise for continued growth, but many are not yet offering solutions for global economic issues.
As a result, “The Great Global Shift: New World, New Rules” advocates that investors give at least as much thought to risk management as efforts to maximize returns. Managing risk in this environment requires investors to be flexible, dynamic, and global-minded and adapt portfolios to meet emerging challenges and opportunities. To keep up with this profoundly changed world and realize personal financial goals, investors need to consider looking outward and diversify not just through traditional domestic stocks, but through geographies and asset classes.
“People have to face the market head on and understand how to seize opportunity in this new world as it evolves,” said Shalett. “That means considering the economic, social, and political dynamics in play. The greatest risk to failing to meet financial goals stems from investors using a ‘stay the course’ approach to their portfolios.”
In August, 54 percent of Americans rated current economic conditions as poor, up from 42 percent in July, according to Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index. The decline in confidence due to the current volatility in the markets and the growing global financial crisis has investors clinging to their familiar tactic: buying and then “holding on for dear life.”
“Eighty percent of Americans believe the economy is getting worse, which is understandable in this turbulent global environment,” said Bremmer. “But despite much of the geopolitical uncertainty and the economic rebalancing happening in Europe, the United States, China, and elsewhere, there are ways to find success and growth even as the unpredictable occurs.”
In addition to the white paper and webcast, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management will provide support tools to financial advisors and hold events with clients.
Bank of America has a strategic agreement with Eurasia Group Ltd., the world's leading global political consulting firm, to provide industry-leading political risk analysis to the bank's Global Wealth and Investment Management clients.
To read the white paper and view the webcast, visit The Great Global Shift: New World, New Rules.
Bank of America
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Eurasia Group
Eurasia Group is the world's leading global political risk research and consulting firm. By providing information and insight on how political developments move markets, we help clients anticipate and respond to instability and opportunities everywhere they do business. Founded in 1998, the firm's name reveals its early focus on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, but today our research platform is global. Our analysts monitor political, economic, social, and security developments in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. Headquartered in New York, we have offices in Washington, DC, and London, as well as on-the-ground experts and resources in more than a hundred countries. Our analysts are highly trained political scientists with extensive experience in the public and private sectors.
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated offers a broad range of brokerage, investment advisory (including financial planning), banking, trust and other financial services and products. The nature and degree of advice and assistance provided, the fees charged, and client rights and Merrill Lynch’s obligations will differ among these services.
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Contacts:
Selena Morris, Bank of America,
1.212.236.2272
selena.morris@bankofamerica.com
