Learn From the Cramer Kerfuffle
I am no fan of Jim Cramer. While I fully understand his persona is a carefully crafted schtick designed to entertain, his Mad Money program harms Main Street investors. His stock-picking recommendations are no more likely to be accurate than...
Read This Before You Buy a Mutual Fund
According to the 2014 Investment Company Fact Book, the mutual fund industry in the United States manages an astounding $15 trillion in assets. That represents a whole lot of investors who must be disappointed with the performance of their actively...
View Tony Robbins’ Investing Advice with Skepticism
America has discovered a new financial guru. Tony Robbins’ new book on investing, MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom, has shot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list. Mr. Robbins, who has been nicknamed the “mahatma...
The Most Important Symbol for Investors Is ‘DOL’
Many investors are glued the financial news, tracking the latest reports about interest rates, earnings reports and stock movements. They believe this kind of intense focus will help them maximize returns. They couldn’t be more wrong. Instead of spending time...
It’s Time to Board the Index Express
The news keeps getting worse for active management. Here’s a summary: Poor year-to-date performance In an article on MarketWatch.com, Mitch Tuchman references data from Bank of America indicating only 17.7 percent of active managers have beaten a large-cap index benchmark...
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...
Ignore Bad Advice About Declining Stock Prices
Last week was the worst week for the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ since May 2012. The S&P 500 index dropped 3.1 percent on the week to 1,906.13 and the NASDAQ fell 2.3 percent to 4,276.24. Not surprisingly, the market’s...
British Documentary Skewers Active Management
A new multi-part British documentary, How to Win the Loser’s Game, takes a hard look at active management. Although done with typical understatement, the results are not pretty. The complete documentary will not be available until Nov. 5. But you...
What Predictions by Economists Can Teach You About Investing
An interesting article in Bloomberg noted that the recovery in this year’s Treasury market has been stronger than the rally predicted by every economist they queried in a recent survey. In mid-August, Bloomberg contacted 66 economists for their Sept. 30...
The Real Secret of Successful Investors
Historical market data are often misused by pundits who believe they can predict the future by looking at the past. Much of what counts these days as “financial news” is simply a parade of self-styled “pros” peering into their crystal...
