Chief Investment Officer

CIO Magazine’s Extensive Coverage of MPI’s Annual Endowment Report

CIO Magazine’s Matt Toledo provides an analysis of both the NACUBO’s 2023 Fiscal Year study and MPI’s 9-th annual quantitative report of Ivy Endowment performance and risk. In his article U.S. College Endowments Gained 7.7% in Fiscal 2023, Although Suffer From Weak Alternatives Returns (ai-cio.com)  ​​​“For multiple reasons it is unlikely that endowments that are heavily allocated to private markets and alternatives veer from the so called ‘Yale model’ after the challenges of fiscal year 2023. Our research shows that Ivy and elite endowments are risk takers, and their portfolios are not particularly efficient​,​” MPI CEO Michael Markov was quoted when discussing the possibility of shifting allocations to public equities.

MPI: Venture Capital, Technology Investments Will Define 2023 University Endowment Returns

Matt Toledo with CIO Magazine reviews in this article recent performance of top endowments from Yale, UPenn and Stanford and compares them with projections from MPI Transparency Lab. “Stanford announced on Thursday a 4.4% return in fiscal 2023, slightly below MPI’s estimate of 6.42%. Stanford attributed its underperformance—as compared with Cambridge Associates’ 6.9% median return for university endowments—to losses in its venture capital investments, in line with MPI’s projections,” – he writes.

Ivy League Endowments Underperform 60-40 Portfolio, Again

Read more on MPI’s annual assessment of the Ivy League Endowments, featured in Chief Investment Officer, where our analysts provide a deeper look into FY20 performance and the likely reasons behind the sharp drop over FY19.

Ivy League Endowments Lag 60-40 Portfolio

“Despite reporting strong returns for the second straight year, Ivy League university endowments have lagged behind a simple portfolio comprised of 60% stocks and 40% bonds over the past 10 years, according to a report from Markov Processes International. The report said that from fiscal year 2009 to 2018, a portfolio made up of 60% stocks and 40% fixed income had annualized returns of 8.1%. Meanwhile not even the top-performing Ivy League endowments beat this over the same time period as Columbia University and Princeton University’s endowments were a shade behind with annualized returns of 8.0% each.” Read the full article here.

Princeton Endowment Returns 14.2% in 2018

“According to investment research analysts Markov Processes International, the strong performance has been driven in large part by investments in private equity and venture capital, which have returned 18.7% and 18.3%, respectively, in fiscal 2018, compared to a 14.4% return for the S&P 500…. Markov estimated that private equity and venture capital contributed 8.3% and 3.3% of Yale’s 12.3% return for 2018, with other asset classes contributing only 0.8% of its annual return. The firm also estimated that private equity and venture capital contributed 5.2% and 3.2%, respectively, of Dartmouth’s 12.2% return; and 3.6% and 3.3%, respectively, of Harvard’s 10% return.” Read the full article here.

Dartmouth Endowment Returns 12.2% in 2018

“Despite having the second-smallest endowment in the Ivy League next to Brown University, Dartmouth has had among the top-performing investment portfolios of any of the elite universities in recent years. According to investment research firm Markov Processes International, Dartmouth has been among the top-four performing Ivy League endowments five out of the previous six years.” Read full article here.

CalPERS CIO Orders Active Risk Review

“In general, one might expect that the size of CalPERS’ portfolio will make it harder to generate excess returns in almost any asset class as they are actually moving markets,” MPI President Jeff Schwartz tells CIO’s Randy Diamond in his article about the system’s active investment risk-taking review. “As such, they really need to pick their battles when it comes to identifying areas to pursue excess returns, especially on a risk-adjusted basis, given that less-efficient market segments tend to hold more risks.” Read full article here.

Ivy Endowments Have Topsy-Turvy Year in Fiscal 2017

“Brown and Cornell bucked their historical trends by outperforming Yale, Princeton, and Harvard. Over the past 11 fiscal years, either Brown, Cornell, or both were among the bottom two performers among Ivy League endowments.” This CIO article features interview with MPI’s Sean Ryan and discusses our 2017 Ivy Endowment returns analysis report.