Markets Keep Defying the Experts and the News
On Aug. 25, the S&P 500 index closed above 2,000 for the first time — finishing at 2,000.24. It had taken the index more than 16 years to double from its first close above 1,000 on Feb. 2, 1998, when...
Learn From the Fall of Active Management
Proponents of evidence-based investing, myself included, doubted whether this day would ever come. Investors are now actually paying attention to the overwhelming data supporting evidence-based investing and are fleeing active management. Some of the recent developments reinforcing this growing trend...
The Mystery Of Momentum
Momentum is a well-established, empirical fact. Its premium is evident in more than 87 years of domestic market data, in more than 20 years of out-of-sample evidence beginning from the time of its original discovery, in statistics from 40 other...
Private Equity Not Worth The Risk
Last week, I wrote in-depth about some of the problems with hedge funds, especially in terms of how they’re viewed and how they affect financial markets as a whole. I thought I’d begin this week with a closer look at...
Quick Take on Fixed Income
Q: What are the characteristics of preferred stocks? A: Preferred stocks can be viewed as a hybrid of stocks and bonds. Preferred shareholders receive preference over common equity holders (hence the term “preferred”) for dividend payouts and in the event...
Markets keep defying experts and the news
On Aug. 25, the S&P 500 index closed above 2,000 for the first time — finishing at 2,000.24. It had taken the index more than 16 years to double from its first close above 1,000 on Feb. 2, 1998, when...
The Strange Allure of Higher Fees
Just about anything that comes with the “alternative” label is automatically enticing to plenty of people. Alternative rock spoke to so many music fans that it became more or less mainstream in the 1990s. On a smaller scale, consider the...
How NOT to Prepare for the Market Correction
Almost everyone believes a stock market correction is inevitable. The financial media whip up a daily frenzy of anxiety by offering conflicting views from “investment pros” on when this correction will occur. Here are some tips for dealing with the...
Avoid Being Conned By Mutual Fund Advertising
All performance-based advertising should be banned. Your telephone rings. The call is from an executive recruiter. She has some really good news. You are being offered a position as the fund manager for a large-cap mutual fund. Large-cap stocks are...
Learning to Shun the Instagram Life
“We should just move to the country and live in a tent.” I mention this idea to my wife every time I’m confronted with one of the realities of living in Park City, Utah. It seems like almost everyone here...
