Dear readers,
It's been nearly a year since I've taken over as editor-in-chief and chief content officer of Pensions & Investments against the backdrop of a challenging economic and financial market environment.
In 2022, the 60/40 stock-bond portfolio model was down about 17% — the second-worst year in history since the inception of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index in 1976 – as the Federal Reserve continued its aggressive tightening cycle.
While markets have improved in the first quarter, challenges remain: The global economy is teetering on recession and many countries are grappling with elevated or spiraling inflation, keeping central banks on high alert for further rate hikes.
Readers have been flocking to P&I — what some characterize as the "bible of institutional investing" — to make sense of this new normal with essential news, proprietary data and deeply reported analysis from our award-winning newsroom.
Over the past year and into 2023, P&I has kept readers informed on SECURE 2.0 and other important regulatory and legislative developments, the latest ESG issues, the pitfalls of cryptocurrencies, and fresh trends in the public and private markets. I'm especially proud of our ongoing coverage of how leading investors and money managers are taking stock of rising inflation and geopolitical events including the outbreak of war in Ukraine and China's reopening.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, P&I will continue to be the preeminent brand for pension funds, foundations and endowments. As another high point, the last 12 months have translated into record-breaking digital readership for P&I, which has grown nearly 40%, as calculated by Gennady Kolker, our new audience development editor, and Anthony DeRosa, our new digital content director.
Hence, P&I has explored various ways we are telling the most important stories for our institutional investor community by relaunching our Face-to-Face profiles, holding Twitter Spaces and planning upcoming LinkedIn Live events as well as a new podcast.
We've also tapped Erin Arvedlund, our new enterprise editor, to work closely with Julie Tatge, our executive editor, and Kevin Olsen, our managing editor, on accountability and longer-form narrative pieces. As an example, P&I in January delved into the curious lack of criteria in a Florida job posting for a new top investment management official. As I'm sure you are aware, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Cabinet have made no secret of their disdain for ESG considerations.
Lastly, P&I has launched a new program — Influential Women in Institutional Investing — to acknowledge and celebrate women who are having an outsize impact on the professional investment and retirement market. The award is open to women across the institutional investing industry, regardless of strategy, and includes asset managers, asset owners, investment consultants and service providers to the industry. The deadline is April 14, but I wanted to amplify this in light of International Women's Day on Wednesday, a day of recognition, celebration and empowerment that takes place during Women's History Month.
Thank you very much for your loyalty, and I look forward to hearing from you about our content, stories you'd like to see more or less of and your general take on the state of institutional investing at [email protected].
