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What’s the right level for a portfolio’s liquidity needs?

Edward J. Finley II, Managing Director and Private Client Advisor

August 31, 2012

18 Min Read
Private Equity

 

Over the last decade, it’s become increasingly difficult to build a portfolio that can support a reasonable level of spending (3 percent to 5 percent per year) and still maintain its purchasing power over time. A 60/40 stock/bond portfolio over the last 10 years, for example, has delivered a total return of 50.1 percent (measured by 60 percent S&P 500 and 40 percent Barclays Aggregate Bond Index).1 When factoring in a conservative spending rate of 3 percent per year, the total return for the portfolio would have been 11 percent. That would have significantly underperformed inflation, roughly 27 percent for the same period, and would almost certainly have lost value in real terms.2

Investors who increased risk in their portfolios to compe...

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About the Author

Edward J. Finley II

Managing Director and Private Client Advisor, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management

Edward Finley is a Managing Director and Private Client Advisor with U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, in New York. Ed leads the design and development of tailored financial strategies for a select group of families, endowments, and foundations. He orchestrates thoughtful initiatives in investment management, trust and estate planning services, wealth strategy, family office services, banking, and philanthropy, integrating the insights and experience of a team of in-house specialists. As the lead relationship manager, Ed works closely with clients to facilitate informed decision-making and active stewardship of wealth.

Ed has worked in wealth management since 1991. Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Ed spent thirteen years with J.P. Morgan Private Bank in New York, where he was a Managing Director and Senior Banker consulting to high net worth families, closely held businesses, charitable foundations and non-governmental organizations. He began his career practicing law with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, and Kirkland & Ellis, where he focused on domestic and international trust and estate planning services. His career also includes a tenure with Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, where he advised families on wealth strategy and estate administration.

Ed is an adjunct Professor at the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce, where he teaches the advanced quantitative finance seminar in investment management. He is a frequent lecturer and author on wealth management issues and serves on the editorial board of Trusts & Estates  magazine.

Ed earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.* He lives in New York City with his husband and two children.

*In his role at U.S. Trust, Ed does not provide legal advice.