Jerome Wong ⋅ Scarsdale, NY BNP Paribas ⋅ 16 years experience

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your service.

A key issue with many companies (as well as public entities) is underfunded pension liabilities. Companies can choose their own expected rate of return to determine the condition of their pension liabilities. For an oversimplified example, say Company XYZ owes $100 in 20 years - if they currently have $15 of assets in the pension, if they assume a rate of return of 7.1%, the future value is approximately $100. If the rate of return is 6%, the future value is about $85; this shortfall would need to be funded by an additional $4.80 today to have a FV of $100 - to be fully funded. If they make this payment to fund the shortfall under this circumstance, earnings would decrease by this amount.

A worthwhile project may be looking at the % of pension funds funded, how realistic is the expected rate of returns, and see how that correlates to the performance of the stock. Hope this help.

Rgds

Jerome Wong

William Orr ⋅ Greenwood, IN Edward Jones Investments ⋅ 4 years experience

I think an interesting topic to cover (which would also be value added) would be, "How are smaller investors affected by the new DOL fiduciary standard rule in IRAs?"

Kit Lancaster ⋅ Chicago, IL GCG Financial ⋅ 5 years experience

Good Morning Peter,

What area of investments are you most interested? What area of investments would you like to learn more about? If you have 15 minutes for a quick call I would happy to brainstorm some ideas with you. There are a lot areas that come to mind

1) The impact of negative interest rates
2) The impact of new banking regulation on small banks vs. large banks
3) Alternative Investments (derivatives, managed futures, MLPs, Preferred Stock, REITs, etc) (risk / reward / cost)
4) The impact of new investment regulation on the financial services industry. (challenges / opportunities)

Gordon Lum ⋅ Elk Grove, CA Willdan Engineering ⋅ 30 years experience

We will all die. To not strap our survivors with huge burial costs and debt (e.g., mortgage, student loan, credit card balances, car loan, etc.), most of us should get life insurance. I think a worthwhile research topic would be..."When is a Whole Life policy better than Term Life?" Thx for your consideration.

Don Barkman ⋅ Oak Ridge, TN The Business Center ⋅ 40 years experience

Try looking at the predictive ability of the moving 200 and 400 day averages of the S & P 500 as far as overall market advances and declines.

John (Casey) Roach ⋅ Greenwich, CT Merrill Lynch ⋅ 45 years experience

Peter,
I would encourage you to research a topic in which you can become proficient and be considered an authority. A thought: many people who have a joc are enrolled in their employer's 401K ot 403B if they happen to be a teacher. Those who are self employed have an IRA as do many of those who have retired. The thesis might be: why should someone who has one of the investment vehicles I have mentioned consider establishing a Trusteed IRA? What are the benefits and why is it beneficial?
It is a subject which makes many folks eyes shut for they do not want to spend the time listening to this matter when they could be playing golf or exercising or just watching the tube. However, it is an important topic related to establishing an estate plan.

Good luck and if you want to talk, feel free to call.

casey Roach
203-861-5934 Veteran (Captain US Army) and Financial Advisor

martin kelly ⋅ Wilmington, DE ISM Insurance, Inc. ⋅ 30 years experience

Hey Peter.

So, one I've always thought might be interesting ( I work with schools) would be to, assuming the data is there, study how an investment by parents/students in say private K-12 and then private universities (and the resulting "better" jobs differentials) compares to investing those same dollars over the same 20+ year period to see which is the better "pure" investment.

Best of luck Peter

Martin

Neil Serafin ⋅ Easthampton, MA Telecommunications ⋅ 40 years experience

Why do blue collar employees stick all their matched 401k money into a low yield bond fund. Ignorance....no tolerance for risk....poor or no advice given to them about 401k's?

Donald Marshall ⋅ Hingham, MA U.S.Treasury ⋅ 45 years experience

Peter,
In Massachusetts there was a recent leveraged buyout of Demoulas Grocery stores. The firm was owned by the Demoulas family which was divided on the appropriate market strategy for the firm which escalated into a bitter family feud over control of the firm. After an extended court fight, the side of the family which was a proponent of stakeholder returns over shareowner returns successfully acquired the firm. The successful purchase was possible because the employees of the firm and the customers of the firm boycotted the grocery stores which drove the firms value down to a level below the successful bidder's price. Might I suggest an analysis of the firm's value to demonstrate the difference a focus on stakeholder return rather stockholder returns.

Shimon Starfury ⋅ Corona, CA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 11 years served

Hi Mr. Garcia

Okay, interesting topic for your Investment Research Project.

Hmmm.

If you what something relevant for today and away from the norm...I would research the investments into SpaceX. Here is why...By understanding the intricacies of the how and why, new and future technologies are invested in this new space age, you can create your own model for future investors and those seeking investment capital. In other words, you would be laying the foundation for those who are interested in the space concept but do not know how to go about seeking investors or investments.

Just a thought.

Shimon Starfury

Tripp Bowles ⋅ Richmond, VA BB&T ⋅ 20 years experience

As a student of global inter-connectivity as both a military planner and financial advisor, how will Brexit change the regulatory landscape for financial services businesses?

I think this topic is small enough to wrap your arms around and deep enough to go in any direction.

-restrictions
-compliance
-EEA membership
-internal political issues
-equivalence issues
-MiFID2 regs
-EU markets
-strategic intelligence cooperation
-branch/services passport
-jurisdictions
-timing (critical)

Kelly Thrasher ⋅ Denver, PA Accolade ⋅ 20 years experience

Peter,

Great question that we've been mulling around as part of an employee idea program where I work. I would look at something that involves student debt and saving for retirement in that critical period right after graduating school. Most people are drowning in debt for that period and it would be good to get a solid understanding of the financial impacts. Not only would be it beneficial to your own understanding but you can use your peer group as a sort of data pool. Since a solid future financial structure involves retirement and insurance planning, how do the younger generations establish that footing.
Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions,
Kelly

Jeanne Perdue ⋅ Houston, TX Oxy ⋅ 35 years experience

Dear Peter:
Perhaps study the effect of Climate Change agreements on future oil and gas industry stock prices and dividends. Exxon is being investigated on how they knew about climate change but did not tell investors how it could affect their investments. Maybe bring in the increase in solar and wind and other renewables, going from 10% to 15% ethanol in gasoline and how that might affect oil and gas company stock prices, the current downturn and how many early retirements and layoffs caused much oil and gas knowledge and experience to walk out the door and how that might affect stock prices in the future. This would make a very interesting study -- and might make the front page news!
- Jeanne Perdue, Occidental Petroleum, Houston

Michael Del Vecchio ⋅ Killingworth, CT U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 3 years served

Hi Peter,

Congratulations!- student veteran is a tough act - I did it myself while in service and after I came home.

I manage my own investments after some bad experiences. There are probably a significant number of "common men/women" like me out there.

Several questions that I think bear discussion revolve around this - what tactics should small and independent investors follow to create an income stream in retirement? What are the reliable data sources? What is an understandable education program to create and manage self directed tactics? What are reasonable goals to set for retirement? How do you manage risk?

I would be happy to spend a few minutes explaining how I do OK using tools and techniques I developed myself.

Take care - welcome home.

Bob Molluro ⋅ Wilmington, DE Benchmark Consulting Services ltd. ⋅ 30 years experience

Peter what if I told you that all of the great investment minds consult with one person? I am sure you would find that hard to believe. When I read Tony Robbins book I discovered a gentleman Ray Dadio who is that person. His investment philosophy is a lot different than you would imagine. I sent a brief review of his strategies to my clients. If you would like a copy of my report just send me an email at ramco1@verizon.net. By the way his strategies have resulted in only one year during the last 25 with a loss and that was 3.5%. His all weather strategy is worth knowing about. You can check him out on YouTube.
Warmly,
Bob

Adrian Woolcock ⋅ Charlotte, NC ProSidian Consulting ⋅ 18 years experience

Hey Peter, Thank you for your service. You should do a study comparison of the Return on Investment Differentials between The S&P500 and Emerging markets. Historically, the definition of emerging markets is as follows: The four largest emerging and developing economies by either nominal or PPP-adjusted GDP are the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The next five largest markets are South Korea (though, considered a developed market), Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

However, few people in the united states realize that the largest emerging market region is Africa as a whole. With countries like Russia, China, Brazil - you know what happened there with the economy and Olympics) and Turkey, and Saudi Arabia all having geopolitical issues and oil related impacts, people for the past decade have been flooding into Africa (Even the Chinese are investing Billions there). Things like infrastructure, telecom, food and services not to mention Energy and Mining are big in Africa and they are seeing 9in some places) a growing middle class. Places like Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia have strong financial markets while Botswana, Ghana, and other places on the west coast have been very stable both politically and financially. just google Addis Abeba and see the high rises and the millennium dam.. What you could do is propose a thesis that baring crossover from S&P 500 (which you can map how its done in the past 10 years) where companies in that index are in Africa (i.e Exxon) the investment in Emerging Markets such as AFRICA (The Continent) will beat or has a high probability (BC if knew for sure i would write a book) of beating the S&P 500 and traditional definitions of Emerging Markets BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in the next 10 years. Hope this helps my man. There is lots there to work with and you get to prove the investment value of investing where people of color are. Thank you for your service and reach out if you need more advice...

Peter Garcia ⋅ Paramount, CA U.S. Air Force, Technical Sergeant ⋅ 9 years served

Thank you all,
I appreciate everyone's suggestions and I will consider them when moving forward into my project.