SEI
The latest research and outlooks in the ProAllocate library
- Wealth Management
Initiatives to improve productivity
SEI consultants Gilly Green and Donal Reid describe how AI-driven automation and outsourcing can sharply boost advisor productivity, citing a firm that raised client loads per advisor tenfold. They argue outsourcing frees management focus and investment for front-office client experience without sacrificing quality.
- Equities
Most international allocations were built on autopilot.
SEI's Rob Eckrote argues that passive, cap-weighted international equity allocations are an unexamined default, and that combining systematic factor investing with select fundamental managers better captures value, momentum and quality premia abroad. He cites SEI's SEIE and SEEM funds, which blend a 70% factor-based core with 30% specialist active managers, as evidence this 70/30 structure delivers superior risk-adjusted returns versus benchmarks.
- Equities
October 2026 QiM Fact(or) Sheet
SEI's quantitative investment team reports that October's AI-led equity selloff triggered a sharp momentum reversal and broadened market leadership, prompting its adaptive model to shift allocation toward Quality and Low Volatility from Value. US growth stayed resilient despite slowing hiring, rising core inflation and an unchanged Fed rate.
- Wealth Management
Podcast: Why Data Control Drives Growth
Graphene's Kevin Mitchell argues wealth firms should reclaim control of platform infrastructure—data, custody integration and client experience—rather than cede it to fragmented third-party vendors. He contends AI only adds value once firms build secure, interoperable data foundations first.
- Wealth Management
Podcast: Building Tax-Smart Portfolios
Tau Balance's Andrew Ang argues that taxes represent the biggest gap between reported and actual investment returns, urging advisors to use tax-efficient vehicles, account location and after-tax manager evaluation. He also previews an agentic AI "self-driving portfolio" where specialised AI agents debate asset allocation and construction methods.
- Wealth Management
Podcast: Why Advisors Matter More
McKinsey's Jim Patrick argues that rising product complexity, regulatory fragmentation and an advisor shortage make human advisors more valuable, not less, as behavioral coaching and trust-building outpace technology's capabilities.
- Wealth Management
Podcast: Women Reshaping Wealth
Advisor Ann Covington explains how CovingtonAlsina achieved 15-32% annual organic growth by focusing on women investors, systematizing workflows, and using tax-aware planning tools like SEI's LifeYield to demonstrate measurable client value.
- Portfolio Construction
Aligning portfolios with purpose: The total portfolio approach.
SEI argues the industry's emerging "total portfolio approach" formalises what it has long practised: linking asset allocation, risk modelling and scenario analysis directly to institutional clients' specific objectives rather than benchmark-relative performance.
- Wealth Management
Podcast: What Investors Want Now
Broadridge's Andrew Guillette tells Jack Sharry that behavioral data from 55 million retail investors debunks industry assumptions about age, education and self-directed investing. Wealth remains concentrated among millionaires, model portfolios and ETFs are reshaping product usage, and advice continues to dominate despite rising self-directed activity.