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The Index Company of Research Affiliates
Over 55 live strategies worldwide
Partners with the largest asset owners, consultants, and asset managers globally
Providing investors information to realize the full benefits
of smart beta
John West, CFA, and Ari Polychronopoulos, CFA
Vitali Kalesnik, PhD, and Ari Polychronopoulos, CFA
Robust
Research
Our research team regularly shares the major insights gained in the analysis underpinning our strategies. Their research frequently challenges the conventional wisdom of investing and is informed through collaboration with the broader investment and academic community.
Collaborative
Investors can easily fall victim to groupthink and this is often reflective in research. We aim to avoid this by continually seeking feedback and partnering with both academia and the broader investment industry.
Our goal is to encourage humility, to recognize
that we can easily deceive ourselves into thinking
we have found the “holy grail.” Hubris is our enemy.
A Backtesting Protocol in the Era of Machine Learning
Arnott, Harvey, and Markowitz.
November 2018
Impactful
Investors can easily fall victim to groupthink and this is often reflected in research. We aim to avoid this by continually seeking feedback and partnering with both academia and the broader investment industry.
February 2016
August 2013
Well-Crafted
Index Strategies
In developing and building our index strategies, we emphasize systematic and transparent processes, low-cost implementation, and high investment capacity. Our intent is to improve governance and increase conviction and understanding of the investment philosophy underpinning our index strategies.
Simplicity
& Transparency
As factor investing has grown in popularity, so has the complexity of factor indices. At RAFI Indices, we believe that
Low Transaction
Costs
Poor product design can result in high transaction costs that cannibalize returns driven by factor premiums. This is why we aim to
Effectiveness
The market impact of poorly engineered funds can have a large toll on realized returns. This is why we aim to
Impactful
Investor Support
The purported benefits of smart beta too often fall prey to transaction costs and clients' poor timing decisions. We emphasize three main areas of investor support:
A distinct service philosophy
The promise of smart beta can be dramatically eroded by poor investor timing. Our support effort is centered on clients maximizing the long-term investor impact of our strategies. That’s our commitment.
A new mindset is called on both for professionals in how they frame their advice and for clients as they learn to adjust their expectations and adopt longer horizons for assessing performance.
"The Biggest Failure in Investment Management: How Smart Beta Can Make It Better or Worse"
West and Hsu
October 2018
A comprehensive suite of materials to weather the journey
Quarterly factsheets and conference calls are no longer enough.
RAFI Roadmaps
Knowledge Center 
Commentary & Attribution
Delivered by an experienced team of practitioners
Since 2005, the Client Strategies and Product Management teams of our sister company Research Affiliates have provided in-person support and engaged in conversations to help make our smart beta research and strategies work more fully for investors. Our experienced team has previously worked at investment consultants, hedge funds, index providers, asset owners, and asset managers.
Years
PhDs and Other
Designations
Smart Beta
Meetings in 2019
*As of September 30, 2020
"If we extrapolate the investor returns gap to smart beta strategies,
poor client timing will completely negate the potential for positive excess returns."
JOHN WEST, JASON HSU
"The Biggest Failure in Investment Management:
How Smart Beta Can Make It Better or Worse"
