Our top 10 favorite articles of 2024

Changes in market leadership. Changes in political leadership. A transition to monetary easing. Transformation through AI (artificial intelligence).

From start to finish, 2024 was a year of change, with a multitude of implications for investors. At Russell Investments, we tackled the year’s seismic shifts head-on, working with the best and brightest minds in the firm to provide actionable insights on the key issues impacting our clients.

With approximately 200 articles published this year, deciding which ones performed the best was no easy feat. Ultimately, we settled on listing the 10 articles that received the highest levels of engagement from our readers.

So, let’s cut to the chase. Listed below—and in no particular order—are our top 10 favorite articles from 2024.

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The value of AI in asset management

Managing Director and Head of Research, Evgenia Gvozdeva, examines the ways investment managers can leverage AI to help streamline operational efficiencies and broaden access to investment insights.

What's the right size for an OCIO provider?

When it comes to selecting an OCIO provider, we believe it’s not about the size of the provider. Instead, as Senior Director and Co-Head of OCIO, Stacey Bro, and Managing Director of Institutional Partnerships and OCIO Solutions, Kevin Turner, explain, it’s about the provider’s capabilities, culture, and commitment to client service.

Value of an Advisor Study 2024: 4 key ways investors benefit

We believe financial advisors are never more important than during periods of uncertainty—such as now. Brad Jung, managing director and head of North America advisor and intermediary solutions, shares how our annual Value of an Advisor study quantifies the value of the various services an advisor provides.

An investor's guide to potential U.S. policy changes in 2025

Paul Eitelman, senior director and chief investment strategist for North America, assesses how potential policy changes under the incoming U.S. administration may impact economic growth, inflation, corporate earnings, and interest rates.

Growing your business with direct indexing

Looking to grow your business? In a world where clients are demanding personalized goods and services, offering direct indexing options could boost your value-add. Jack Van Dyke, investment consultant for personalized solutions, shares how direct indexing can help you build personalized portfolios for each client.

 

2024 Prudent Pension Funding Report: The perils of living on the knife’s edge

In our third annual Prudent Pension Funding Report, Managing Director Michael Hall shares the results from our latest research, which reveals that while most corporate pension plans remain solidly on a path to full funding, there are a handful of companies with plans in precarious funding situations.

Healthcare systems: Is your investment strategy aligned with the goals of the enterprise?

Managing Director of Market Leadership, Lisa Schneider, and Director of Strategic Asset Allocation, Mary Beth Lato, explain how non-profit hospital and healthcare systems can create a framework to align their investment strategy with the needs of the enterprise. 

5 tax traps to navigate heading into 2025

Hitting your ball into a sand trap can really slow down your golf game—or even derail it all together. This is similar to the tax traps that can hurt an investor’s taxable portfolio. Rob Kuharic, our director of tax-managed solutions, shares what these tax traps are and suggests strategies to avoid them.

Today’s markets are extremely concentrated. What does this mean for active management?

With market concentration at its highest level in decades, Senior Research Analyst Jonathan Woo and Associate Portfolio Manager Alexander Baker examine how an active multi-manager structure might help boost performance outcomes.

$20 billion club: Higher rates means…higher return assumptions?

In our annual report on publicly listed U.S. corporations with the largest pension liabilities, Justin Owens, senior director and co-head of strategic asset allocation, reveals that the average expected return on assets (EROA) assumption has increased year-over-year—for the first time since we began analyzing the data 19 years ago.