Learning Center

How to Understand the Yield Curve

Date22 Jun 2015

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The Federal Reserve has signaled that interest rates will eventually rise. It may be tempting to conclude that, with diligence and perseverance, you could uncover a way to profit from this knowledge. If you find yourself enticed by this possibility, the question you need to ask is, “What do I know about what the Fed...

The Most Important Factor in Picking a Fund Manager

Date22 Jun 2015

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When choosing a fund manager, there are a wide variety of characteristics an investor can evaluate. Common points of assessment include: Educational background: What degrees has the fund manager earned, and from what schools? Is the fund manager a certified financial adviser (CFA)? Professional experience: Does the portfolio manager have previous experience on the research...

Exploring The Profitability Factor

Date22 Jun 2015

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A June 2012 study authored by University of Rochester professor Robert Novy-Marx, “The Other Side of Value: The Gross Profitability Premium,” not only provided investors with new insights into the cross section of stocks returns, but also led to the development of new factor models that incorporate a profitability factor. Novy-Marx’s Findings Before unpacking a...

Staying Out of Your Neighbor’s Business

Date22 Jun 2015

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Humans can be a competitive lot. The way we posture and position ourselves to stand out in a group seems to happen instinctively. After all, in the past we competed for resources and survival. Our lives depended on it. Today, we still compete, but for different reasons. Instead of food, we compete for attention and...

Changes in Bond Yields

Date15 Jun 2015

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The recent increase in bond yields and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will begin raising its target rate later this year have elevated investor concerns. Many investors are wondering if this is the beginning of a continued increase in yields and, if so, how it will affect their bond portfolios. From the end of...

With Short-Term Goals, Go for a Bird in the Hand

Date15 Jun 2015

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A friend of mine recently sold his house. It will be a few years before he’ll buy another one. Because the house was worth a lot more than what he and his wife owed the bank on their mortgage, they are now sitting on a pile of money and wondering what to do with it....

Risk-Managed Momentum Outperforms

Date08 Jun 2015

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Momentum has been found to be a persistent and pervasive factor in the returns not only of stocks, but of other asset classes (including bonds, commodities and currencies). Compared with the market, value and size risk factors, momentum in equities has earned both the highest premium and the highest Sharpe ratio. However, momentum has also...

A Magical Metric That Isn’t

Date08 Jun 2015

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I was recently asked to comment on an article that appears in the April 2015 issue of the American Association of Individual Investors Journal. The article is based on the paper “Mutual Fund’s R2 as Predictor of Performance,” which was published in the March 2013 issue of The Review of Financial Studies. As you may...

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