April 24, 2013
Betting Against the House. Markets have 101 ways to remind us of Nobel laureate Merton Miller’s observation: Diversification is the investor’s best friend. Read more HERE.
January 10, 2013
The Top Ten Money Excuses. Human beings have an astounding facility for self-deception when it comes to our own money. We tend to rationalize our own fears. So instead of just recognizing how we feel and reflecting on the thoughts that creates, we cut out the middle man and construct the facade of a logical-sounding argument over a vague feeling. These arguments are often elaborate, short-term excuses that we use to justify behavior that runs counter to our own long-term interests. Read more HERE.
July 23, 2012
Ignoring the News Could Lead to Higher Returns. Many investors rely on the latest news for their investment strategy. Here’s a recent example: On June 21, 2012, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the credit ratings of 15 large U.S. and European banks. How did the markets react? According to an interesting article by Dimensional Fund Advisors, you may be very surprised by the answer. The shares of most of the banks downgraded closed higher after the announcement of the downgrade. Curiously, the cost of insuring the debt of Morgan Stanley (which suffered a two-notch downgrade) dropped to its lowest level in seven weeks.
April 18, 2012
Should Investors Buy High-Dividend Stocks? With bond yields still hovering around historic lows, some investors may be tempted to consider dividend-paying stocks as a way of generating income from their portfolios, presumably with the benefit of not having to sell from their principal. But before embarking on this strategy, it is important to understand several considerations.
December 11, 2011
The Good Old Days? “The hardest arithmetic for human beings to master,” wrote the great American working man’s philosopher Eric Hoffer, “is that which enables us to count our blessings.” It’s a piece of wisdom worth recalling after another year that has tested the nerve of many investors and prompted questions about what current generations have done to deserve to live in such a tempestuous stage of history.
October 11, 2011
Living with Volatility. The current renewed volatility in financial markets is reviving unwelcome feelings among many investors-feelings of anxiety, fear, and a sense of powerlessness. These are completely natural responses. Acting on those emotions, though, can end up doing us more harm than good
August 15, 2011
The New York Times, The Mutual Fund Merry-Go-Round: Author slams mutual fund fees, performance, and ethics; advocates diversifying with passive index funds. This has long been our view.
August 8, 2011
Sovereign Debt and the Equity Investor. The Debt Downgrade and Your Stocks. Interesting article comparing Indonesia to the US. “A triple-A sovereign debt rating is no guarantee of superior equity market returns, and a “junk” rating is no assurance of failure. A diversified strategy will have exposure to both.”
July 14, 2011
CBS Money Watch, What Are the Odds of an Active Portfolio Outperforming? “…active management is the triumph of hype, hope and marketing over wisdom and experience. Choosing passively managed funds to implement your investment plan is the winning strategy — the one most likely to allow you to achieve your goals.”
July 6, 2011
The Wall Street Journal, The 25 Documents You Need Before You Die. Design Your Death Dossier Soon — or You Could be Setting Up Your Heirs for Frustration and Financial Pain
May 12, 2011
The New York Times: “Why It’s So Difficult for Entrepreneurs to Head for the Exit”. Interesting interview on one business owner’s journey to sell his company. See also Carol Roth’s article for the Highland Columns entitled “6 Things to Do Today to Prepare Your Business for Sale”.
February 10, 2011
What’s “New” about a New Normal? The concept of a new normal is anything but new. In fact, throughout modern history, periods of economic upheaval and market volatility have led people to assume that life had somehow changed and that new economic rules or an expanding government would limit growth. What they could not see was how markets naturally adapt to major social and economic shifts, leading to new wealth creation.
This article looks at other periods when investors had strong reasons to give up on stocks, and considers the parallels to today.
January 18, 2011
BizTimes.com, “Sailing Close to Inflation” by Richard D. Marcus, Ph.D. views inflation and unemployment as two monsters called Scylla and Charybdis, which appear in Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus sailed between these two monsters losing part of his crew, but successfully made it through by staying far away from one monster (the whirlpool Charybdis) and risking danger from the other (Scylla). This ancient story is used to say that we are also intentionally hanging dangerously close to the monster of inflation, in part because the danger of unemployment is even worse.
January 4, 2011
Be it resolved. While people commonly make New Year’s resolutions to eat less, exercise more, and make other lifestyle changes for improved health, some investors also might consider forming new financial habits to improve their long-term wealth. Brad Steiman proposes ten investment resolutions for 2011.
December 1, 2010
The New York Times: How To Improve Your Financial Willpower, By Ramit Sethi
November 27, 2010
The New York Times: A Dying Banker’s Last Instructions, By Ron Lieber. Gordon Murray, a Wall Street veteran, has brain cancer and a desire to show people a better way to invest.
