Managers & Models

Wilshire Global ETF Allocation Models

Investment Philosophy

Wilshire is a leading global financial services firm and trusted partner to a diverse range of approximately 500 leading institutional investors and financial intermediaries. Building on its success in creating innovative investment solutions for leading financial institutions, Wilshire provides individual investors with access to the disciplined investment approach used by many institutional investors. These turnkey managed portfolios offer access to Wilshire's dynamic asset allocation structures, institutional-caliber investment managers, and market-leading risk management expertise.

Investment Decision-Making Process

Each of the Wilshire Global ETF Allocation Portfolios provides exposure to up to 14 distinct asset classes. Portfolio managers use proprietary risk analytic software to create portfolios designed to deliver the highest expected return for predetermined levels of risk and invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to help lower overall investment expenses. Wilshire's expertise in asset allocation, investment research, and risk-return forecasting makes these portfolios ideal for clients seeking highly diversified, low-cost asset allocation strategies.

Portfolio Construction

Step 1: Asset Allocation

Wilshire's asset allocation process begins with institutional consensus expectations, ensuring the efficient frontier is aligned with sophisticated global investors. This is augmented with proprietary insights on short-term return opportunities across global capital markets, aiming to create an efficient frontier with higher expected returns at each risk level. Strategic asset allocation helps investors achieve various asset classes' long-term risk and return characteristics while constructing efficient portfolios. Opportunistic tilts are employed when market conditions warrant adding further value.

Step 2: Manager Research

Understanding a manager's true skill involves isolating returns that are not attributable to the market, style effects, or other embedded factors. Wilshire's manager research process identifies managers with consistent, repeatable, and sustainable alpha generation on a forward-looking basis. The process starts with quantitative screening of over 5,000 investment products, narrowing down to approximately 2,300 managers. Rigorous in-person interviews with more than 1,700 managers each year evaluate six key factors: organizational stability, information gathering, forecasting, portfolio construction, implementation, and attribution.

Step 3: Portfolio Construction

Building a multi-manager portfolio involves optimizing manager alpha, correlation, risk among alphas, and the risk characteristics of the asset allocation benchmark. Wilshire employs techniques to produce an efficient frontier of managers with the highest information ratio, ensuring the best-expected return for each level of risk.

Model Versions

The Wilshire Global ETF Allocation Portfolios are a suite of risked-based, strategic asset allocation portfolios investing in exchange traded funds (ETFs) ranging from Conservative to Aggressive, providing a spectrum of choices for investors seeking exposure to global markets through a well-constructed, diversified ETF portfolio.