Beware Alternative Investments
The sophisticated asset-pricing models we have today allow us to determine the underlying sources of returns to investments. Specifically, they permit us to identify the factors to which an investment has exposure. However, a problem arises when employing current asset-pricing...
Saving Ourselves From Not Saving
Americans aren’t saving enough. The numbers appear to back up this claim, which we hear repeatedly. But what I find more interesting is how we react to such statements. I touched on the issue of savings last week, and the...
From the Sharpie of Carl Richards
At the start of 2014, predictions of a market correction were rampant. So what has happened? The market has gone up on some days and down on others, and the volatility that was absent in 2013 has returned. This has...
The Risk of Reacting
By C.J. Baxter Many investors are feeling a little jittery these days, and rightfully so. We have had to deal with fears of Ebola, constant tension in the Middle East and a sluggish overseas economy. And that short list fails...
The Surprising Lessons Of QE
On Oct. 29, the Federal Reserve announced the official end to its bond-buying program, otherwise known as quantitative easing (QE). Given all the debate about the efficacy of the Fed’s policy decisions, and the stomach acid created by the many...
Investing Advice: The Good, Bad and Terrible
There is a huge variation in the quality of advice that investors are exposed to every day. If you can’t differentiate between good and bad information, it can cost you dearly. It may even mean the difference between retiring with...
What to Do if the Bear Has Emerged From Its Hibernation
It seems like investors have had plenty to worry about recently, even without considering the last few weeks of stock market volatility. After all, we’ve seen: Slowing growth in most of the developed world, including the possibility that European economies...
The Real Lesson From October’s Market Volatility
October was a wild ride for investors. At its low, the Dow Jones Industrial average plunged 5.2 percent from its September high. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 6.2 percent and the Nasdaq was down 7.4 percent. Global headlines...
Fearing a bubble? Five worst investing mistakes
Every market pundit has an opinion on whether the market is now at or near a bubble. And after the recent bout of volatility, triggered by a resurgent and scary narrative about a “slowing global economy,” investors who have been...
Don’t Sell In May; Don’t Go Away
One of the more persistent investment myths holds that a winning strategy is to sell stocks in May and wait to buy back into the market until November. While it is true that stocks have provided greater returns from November...
