PLANADVISER - January/February 2022 - 13

their consumers. For example, landlords
can raise rents if their costs are going up,
and utilities usually have automatic passthroughs
to channel cost increases to the
end customers. This gives many of these
companies protection against inflation
because it protects their profitability and,
in some cases, can even lead to growth.
Although investing in real assets does
increase overall risk, this can be partially
mitigated by taking a diversified approach
when picking stocks, McDonald says. This
can mean diversifying geographically-
using a global approach-and by industry,
to limit overall exposure to any one group.
talking points
Pandemic Reset
71%
Some of
the reported
financial
success may
be attributed,
directly or
indirectly, to
the pandemic.
of respondents in a recent study by Fidelity
Investments said they kept their financial
resolutions for 2021, up from 58% in 2020. This
suggests that actions taken at the start of the pandemic-such
as budgeting better and replenishing one's emergency savings
fund-may be growing into permanent habits for many.
Respondents cited several silver linings these past
two years, with:
42% becoming thoughtful about finances
39% growing closer to family
34% getting stronger as a person
1.6 million households engaged in
planning interactions with Fidelity
during last year's second quarter
alone-a 24% increase over the
same period in 2020.
Bobby Blue, a senior analyst with
Morningstar's manager research team,
says, when choosing different securities,
investors should rely on good, bottom-up
research as they make their selections.
" What you want to avoid is a manager
throwing all of these assets into a portfolio
and saying, 'Here's my diversified
real asset strategy,' " Blue says. " You want
[the manager] to be thoughtful about
the way it picks these assets, the way it
combines them, the way it's allocating
among the different assets. And you want
a thoughtful risk-and-return profile with
those underlying assets. " -DJ Shaw
ON THE MOVE
➜ The California Public
Employees' Retirement
System (CalPERS) board
of administration elected
Theresa Taylor as board
president and Rob
Feckner as vice president.
➜ LeafHouse Financial
announced that Todd
Kading will serve as its
new CEO. Neal Weaver
will become president,
and Dallas Villarreal
will be the new chief
compliance officer.
➜ Registered investment
adviser firm Creative
Planning Inc. acquired
Reilly Financial Advisors,
which has more than
$2 billion in assets under
management.
➜ OneDigital
acquired Gouldin &
McCarthy (G&M), an
independent RIA founded
by Mike Gouldin and
Dan McCarthy.
➜ Keightley & Ashner, a
Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation-focused law
firm, will join The Wagner
Law Group's Washington,
D.C., office.
1.6 mm
households
Source: Fidelity Investments, " 2022 New Year's Financial Resolutions Study "
➜ Voya Financial
appointed Jay
Washington to the new
position of assistant vice
president, diverse market
segment.
planadviser.com January-February 2022 | 13
➜
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - January/February 2022

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