[REPLAY] - Ashby Monk – Asset Giant Futurist (Capital Allocators, EP.29)

What It Covers

Ashby Monk explains how large pension funds like Canadian plans and New Zealand Superfund are reducing fees by building internal investment teams, creating aligned partnerships with managers, and designing innovative structures for climate infrastructure and venture capital investing.

Key Questions Answered

• •Fee transparency drives organizational change: CalPERS paid $4 billion in private equity carry over five years to GPs alone. When boards see total external fees alongside minimal internal budgets, they consistently ask if there's another way to produce returns, catalyzing internal team building.
• •Canadian Crown Corporation model enables talent: Double arms-length governance structures allow Canadian pension boards to set competitive compensation independently, paying CIOs $7 million annually to compete with external managers. This stomachs political criticism but reduces billions in external fees through internal management of public equities, infrastructure, and real estate.
• •UC Endowment leverages ecosystem for aligned terms: University of California uses 10 campuses, five major hospitals, three national labs, and $10 billion in R&D to provide privileged deal flow and research access to external managers, securing partnership terms that traditional asset owners cannot negotiate through capital alone.
• •Prize-linked savings converts lottery spending: Long Game mobile app awards variable prizes based on savings deposits while preserving principal, targeting 63 percent of Americans lacking $500 in savings. The American Savings and Promotion Act legalized this structure, offering better odds than state lotteries to redirect gambling expenditures into personal wealth building.
• •Alternative data flows through hedge funds first: Startups using satellite imagery of parking lots and oil wells, plus other alternative data sources, initially sell to hedge funds who fund early research. This creates potential for signals to eventually reach broader markets once inefficiencies diminish, seeding invest-tech industry development.