Financial planning is largely an exercise in risk management, —, you prepare for the costs you can anticipate and set aside an extra amount to cover the costs you can’t Most people think of anticipated costs in terms of recurring expenses mortgage payments insurance payments groceries utilities and so forth Those are important of course but what many people don’t consider is regular healthcare costs which is certainly also part of risk management, To make healthcare management part of your financial plan consider the costs you’ll likely incur with normal health maintenance Those costs won’t be the same for everyone Most often people tend to focus on common recurring costs — prescription drug out-of-pocket costs premium payments associated with their health coverage and other top-of-mind bills But for some there are other predictable but…, How to plan for it financially, The most prudent way to pay for additional screening depends largely on your age and on how you plan to pay your healthcare costs Are you 65 or over Retired Planning to use Medicare or private health insurance Do you plan to use a Health Savings Account (HSA to cover expenses Or can you pay your anticipated medical expenses out-of-pocket and use your HSA as a tax-advantaged investment vehicle…

The small cap high yield market is not as well known or closely followed as the “traditional” market of bigger high yield issues — that’s exactly why small issues may offer high yield investors much more of what they are looking for overcompensated credit risk diversification and lower default rates This analysis uncovers compelling opportunities in small cap high yield revealing unexpected…, More income, | Small cap bonds trade on average 121bps wide vs large cap bonds 2, Lower default rate, | Small cap bonds have experienced a 16% lower average annual default rate than large bonds over the last two decades (38% vs 45% 3, Lower volatility, | Large cap bonds are much more volatile on a week-to-week basis vs small cap bonds (the respective annualized standard deviations of returns are 824% and 488% 4, Lower correlations, | Small cap bonds have lower correlation to the S&P 500 and Bloomberg Aggregate 5 Small cap high yield investors have benefitted from these factors for many years So why is no one paying attention We have our theories But first let’s see if the data backs up our assertions, More income, As shown in Chart 1 below small cap bonds trade on average 121bps wide vs large cap bonds which is not all that surprising Large household names are generally associated with more data transparency via equity research news coverage and research from industry consultants Such transparency applies to large issuers’ high yield bonds too – analysts have access to a wealth of standardized data that…

Evaluating the effect of training period length on the performance of machine learning algorithms, Does more data mean better models Maybe not for neural network systematic FX trading strategies In this paper we explain a qualitative approach to estimating the optimal look-back window size to create training sets for deep neural network-based FX strategies Explaining the problem class over-representation vs lack of data dilemma Machine learning-based systematic FX trading algorithms utilise…, LOOK-BACK WINDOWS (LBWs,   Read more ​The information contained herein is intended for institutional clients Qualified Eligible Persons Eligible Contract Participants and Wholesale Clients or the equivalent classification in the recipient’s jurisdiction and is for informational purposes only Nothing contained herein constitutes an offer to sell an interest in any Mesirow Financial investment vehicle It should not be…

We are often asked why our portfolio contains a high concentration of relatively small bond issues (which tend to be issued by commensurately smaller companies – firms having enterprise values between $1 billion and $5 billion We believe that 1 such issues tend for a variety of reasons to offer more yield per unit of default risk 2 such excess return is of greater value to almost all investors…, Dispersion – the active manager’s friend, Large issues attract attention and coverage by both the underwriters and such private research firms as Gimme Credit and CreditSights Issuers of large bonds also tend to have publicly traded equity which is a “free” resource to allow a bondholder to quickly read the latest Street thinking on a company Large issues tend to be widely owned and thus followed by enough smart investors to be…, It’s not size that matters – it’s stability, We soundly disagree with the thinking that the resilience of a credit is related to its absolute size (Caveat we do believe that of the very small bond issues of under $100 million which are a different class of company entirely Logically what really matters to a business’ survivability is its skill and cost position relative to its competitors the stability of the economics of the industry and…, The advantage of simple capital structure, Another feature of smaller issuers is that they tend to have simple capital structures Smaller companies tend to have just two layers of debt – a secured bank facility (probably including a revolving line of credit for seasonal needs and a single unsecured high yield bond issue In the event of a distressed reorganization either in or out of bankruptcy the critical inter-creditor negotiation…, The mirage of liquidity – and why it is overvalued, The most frequent objection to our thesis is that our approach entails liquidity costs that are not captured adequately in either the statistics cited thus far in this report or in our results In “normal times” when security prices are exhibiting a normal level of volatility we believe our trading costs are no higher per trade than a large cap high yield bond manager and given our low turnover we…, Why aren’t the advantages of small issues arbitraged away, The extra value in small issues persists in a highly researched trillion-plus dollar market Why Some mutual funds by charter will not look at small issues They have adopted what we believe is an extreme position on the liquidity continuum believing that more is always better The most extreme of all are exchange traded funds which hold only large issues…and have historically underperformed the…, Summary, We believe our strategy that includes investing in small issues is the most direct way to capitalize on local informational advantages in the very lucrative realm of credit (where a disciplined approach can systematically add value while simultaneously “selling” liquidity to parties who systematically overvalue it Download   * Data is as of 12/31/17 Currency also advises internally on another $…

Hilary Fife is the program manager in Mesirow Human Resources She is focused on the overall strategy and implementation of the summer internship program Hilary works closely with leaders across the organization to ensure Mesirows entry-level talent strategy aligns with business objectives and continues to enhance the firms capabilities to attract hire and retrain from the top universities  Hilary…

To our Highland Park community – our clients business partners and employees Highland Park is a place Mesirow has called home for five decades Our presence in Port Clinton Square represents our largest office location outside of our Chicago headquarters and we have long been dedicated to helping Highland Park thrive through client relationships support of local businesses and community engagement…, July 4th Shooting Response Fund,   In 2020 Mesirow became a founding corporate Impact Partner of Giffords an organization working in partnership with a bipartisan spectrum of Americans gun owners voters and elected officials who seek to promote gun safety Like Giffords we believe that everyone should be able to live and work without the threat of gun violence At this moment of crisis and inflection we thank those working to…