Equity100, Syfe’s all-equity portfolio, is a smart beta portfolio built using a multi-factor methodology. In recent years, smart beta investing has become increasingly popular.  It is a strategy that seeks to deliver better returns by providing exposure to equity markets and to one or more factors at a lower cost. Factors are the characteristics that drive investment returns. This is why smart beta is sometimes also known as factor investing. From an academic perspective, smart beta aims to enhance systematic returns by extracting risk premia from several factors. Risk premium is the additional return an investor receives for taking on extra risk, compared to that of a risk-free asset, in a given investment. To harvest risk premia, smart beta portfolios are tilted to one or multiple factors that contribute to outperformance. Understanding factors Factors are not new. They are grounded in rigorous academic research and backed by...