Listen to Your Brain to Sense a Market Correction
The financial media continues to stoke anxiety and fear — and trading — with “news” about a coming market correction. On its list of “must reads” for July 16, Yahoo Finance featured these articles: “Investors haven’t been this optimistic since...
How to Be Happier in Retirement
Much of what is written about retirement planning focuses on investing. I am guilty of contributing to the volume of that literature. My book, “The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read,” discusses how to invest intelligently so that you can retire with...
Is ‘Momentum’ Faltering? Part I
For the decade from 2004-2013, the momentum premium—as measured by the Fama-French momentum factor—experienced a negative compound return of -1.2 percent per year. (This number was calculated using the monthly momentum premium figures from the Fama-French data series. Note that returns...
Avoid this mistake about global diversification
Don’t get stuck in your own backyard. Investors should consider building globally diversified equity portfolios that avoid the persistent and worldwide phenomenon of home-country bias. That’s when you allocate a greater weight to your home-country stocks than their percentage of...
Is ‘Momentum’ Faltering? Part II
Earlier this week, we took a look at some of the historical evidence on the persistence of the Fama-French momentum factor. Today we’ll examine the momentum premium’s out-of-sample record, as well as its uses in portfolio diversification. The authors of...
The Top 10 Places Your Next Dollar Should Go
There is no shortage of receptacles clamoring for your money each day. No matter how much money you have or make, it could never keep up with all the seemingly urgent invitations to part with it. Separating true financial priorities...
When Competition Obscures Financial Goals
Years ago, a friend with an incredibly successful career as a sales representative shared a story about what she and her brother called their W-2 Derby. It’s exactly what it sounds like. At the end of each year, they’d pull...
What are the differences between a brokered CD and a bank CD?
Q: What are the differences between a brokered CD and a bank CD? A: A certificate of deposit is a type of bond that has a stated maturity and coupon payment. Most CDs offer a fixed interest rate, and maturities...
