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As noted, our Investment Monitoring Reports are proprietary products of CBIZ Retirement Plan
Services
7. Give an overview of your firm’s approach and criteria for placing a manager on a watch
list, under what conditions would the manager be removed from the watch list?
CBIZ RPS reviews plan investment options quarterly utilizing the qualitative and quantitative metrics
described in the Investment Policy Statement. CBIZ RPS will include the following criteria in an
Investment Policy Statement to select and monitor specific investment options:
Management Tenure – How long has the portfolio manager(s) been overseeing the portfolio?
Operating Expense, or Management Fee – Is the manager fee competitive relative to its peer
group and commensurate with the quality of the product?
Investment Performance – Is it consistently competitive relative to its peer group over the
trailing 1, 3, 5, and 10 year periods?
Sharpe Ratio – is the manager adding value relative to level of risk of the portfolio?
Calendar Year Performance – Is the manager’s over/under performance attributable to a few
reporting periods, or is there a longer term consistency?
Allocation by Holding – Is it diversified within the top 10 holdings? How many positions in
total does it hold?
Allocation by Sector – Is it diversified amongst the different sectors of the economy and
where is it making its larger commitments?
Financial Statistics for Stock Funds such as the average price/earnings ratio and the median
market capitalization – Is it true to its stated style or has it drifted?
Financial Statistics for Bond Funds such as average credit quality, effective duration and
average maturity – Is it over or underweighting government and/or corporate bonds and how
much credit/duration risk is the manager taking?
Funds that violate the following metrics typically make our Watch List but are not placed on our
Watch List solely by way of a static formula. Meaning there is an element of subjectivity that we
believe is essential to our investment process.
In the course of evaluating investment managers, three general conclusions are typically reached
which form our recommendations to plan sponsors:
Suitable fund – continue to invest.
Watch List – we are alert to circumstances in the fund that may lead to an adverse opinion or
recommendation. These funds should be documented and reviewed more carefully.
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