Callan Associates

Strategic Planning Services

Callan has more than three decades of experience in providing an array of strategic planning services.

We also bring superior resources to our clients:

• A team of highly experienced, quantitative consultants — experts in strategic planning, asset allocation, and actuarial sciences.
• Unique knowledge that comes from working with many different clients with diverse needs over many years.
• State-of-the-art econometric tools and statistical models.
• A vigilant peer review committee that adds sophisticated, qualitative insight to our quantitative process.
• A Client Policy Review Committee comprised of the firm’s senior management and consultants to work directly with each client’s Callan consultant.  This ensures that the best ideas within Callan are provided to each client.

Investment Policy

Callan offers expert assistance in constructing appropriate, effective statements of investment policy and investment guidelines.

We review:

• The responsibilities of the plan fiduciary, investment managers, and other service providers.
• Policy guidelines, including asset allocation, rebalancing ranges, manager selection procedures, and investment limitations.
• Return and risk objectives for the total fund and for individual managers.

Asset Allocation

A fund’s asset allocation is the primary determinant of its investment return and volatility.  We provide clients with sound capital market projections, a thorough asset allocation study, and, when applicable, an incorporation of liabilities.

• Annually, Callan develops five-year capital market projections of return, risk, and correlation figures by asset class.
• We identify efficient asset mixes that reflect the appropriate level of risk for the fund.
• If applicable, we conduct an Asset/Liability Study employing a proprietary asset allocation model to evaluate the interaction between future liabilities and alternative asset mixes under a broad range of economic scenarios. 
• We can also conduct Asset/Spending Policy Studies as needed by examining the interaction between asset performance and spending policies under a range of economic scenarios.

Manager Structure Analysis

A qualitative and quantitative evaluation to suggest alternative manager structures that will maximize risk-adjusted return of the total portfolio.

Our analysis incorporates regression techniques with an insightful qualitative overlay.

• Structure balancing so that portfolios do not systematically underperform during style cycles.
• Determination of an appropriate range of passive exposure.
• Sound insights on implementation issues, such as when, or if, managers should be used if styles overlap or are changing.
• An implementation plan to achieve an optimal structure at minimum cost.

Investment Fund Line-up Review

Critical to a sound 401(k) Plan is the review and establishment of an appropriate fund structure. The structure of a defined contribution plan should be developed such that participants have reasonable access to a variety of investment options, which will allow them to determine and meet their own risk/reward profile.

An analysis to assess the appropriateness of a DC investment fund line-up based on variables such as plan demographics, size of plan, and plan goals. Our analysis examines:

• Number of funds
• Asset class prevalence
• Utilization by DC participants
• Legal and regulatory requirements
• Appropriateness of vehicles such as mutual funds, collective trusts, and separate accounts
• Fees