When dealing with finances and the markets, you want to be sure you know everything that can help you make money and stay on top of what is going on. 

In this episode, Keith Beggs talks to Laurence Black, founder of The Index Standard and Index Advisor to Professor Robert J Shiller. Laurence shares everything an advisor needs to know about indexing and recent changes with the S&P 500. 

Keith and Laurence discuss: 

• Benefits for the client when it comes to indexing
  
• Reasons for the recent shift towards favoring indexing
  
• How carriers price indexes to get the capsule participation rates they have
  
• Why volatility has such a major effect on pricing 
  
• Expectations for bond portfolios in the next 10 years 
  
• And more
  

Resources: 

Barclays.com 

Connect with Keith Beggs:

• keith@steadfastws.com 
  
• LinkedIn: Keith Beggs
  
• LinkedIn: Steadfast Wealth Strategies
  
• Facebook: Steadfast Wealth Strategies
  

Connect with Laurence:

• LinkedIn: Laurence Black 
  
• LinkedIn: The Index Standard 
  
• TheIndexStandard.com 
  

About Our Guest:

Laurence Black is the founder of The Index Standard and an index advisor to Professor Robert J Shiller. The Index Standard is an information portal providing ratings, forecasts and guides unmasking the mystique behind indices and making finance more approachable. Earlier in his career Laurence instigated the Shiller Barclays Index family with Barclays and Professor Shiller. He has appeared interviews with the Financial Times, Bloomberg and Structured Retail Products and is a frequent contributor on index thought leader pieces.

Prior to this, Laurence was a Managing Director at Barclays where he held the position of Global Head of QIS Origination & Development. He had responsibility for developing the QIS index range, for index partnerships and for working with clients to deliver multi asset solutions based on their needs. Laurence instigated and led Barclays’ index partnerships with Professor Shiller, Nouriel Roubini, Novus and GAM.

Laurence was the Head of Indexes at ABN AMRO before joining Barclays, where he built the index business over a seven year period. He has previously held trading and client account management roles at Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. He holds an MBA from the University of Warwick, UK, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.