Biography
David Blanchett, PhD, CFA, CFP®, is managing director, portfolio manager, and head of retirement research for PGIM DC Solutions. PGIM is the global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. In this role, he develops solutions to help improve retirement outcomes for investors with a specific focus on defined contribution plans. Prior to joining PGIM, he was the head of retirement research for Morningstar Investment Management LLC. Blanchett has published more than 100 papers in both industry and academic journals that have received a variety of awards, including the Financial Analysts Journal Graham and Dodd Scroll Award in 2015. Blanchett is currently an adjunct professor of wealth management at The American College of Financial Services and a research fellow for the Alliance for Lifetime Income. He was formally a member of the executive committee for the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) and the ERISA Advisory Council (2018-2020). Blanchett holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in financial services from The American College of Financial Services, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a doctorate in personal financial planning program from Texas Tech University. When he isn’t working, Blanchett is probably out for a jog, playing with his four kids, or rooting for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Asset classes such as commodities have historically had notable diversification benefits for longer-term investors who are concerned with inflation.
Note to investment advisors: You may be overestimating the risks of equities for conservative investors with longer investment horizons.
Are investment returns random across time as Burton Malkiel suggests in his book, A Random Walk Down Wall Street? There is notable disagreement on this topic. This research finds that practitioners may need to rethink their portfolio optimization routines.
To understand risk for portfolio optimization purposes, we need to consider regret.
Retirement, like life, is fundamentally uncertain. That's why we need to provide clients with more context about what missing their retirement-income goals might look like.
How can we incorporate dynamic spending into retirement income projections?
Spending flexibility must be better incorporated into the tools and outcomes metrics with which financial advisers advise clients.