“Too many investors cling to attribute-based approaches and wring their hands when the market doesn’t conform to what they think it should do.” – Michael Mauboussin The biggest ongoing debate by the intellectual crowd at the moment is on profit margins. Pseudonymous blogger Jesse Livermore calls it ‘The epicenter of the valuation debate.’ In one…

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” – George Carlin

“I remember the $0.05 hamburger and a $0.40-per-hour minimum wage, so I’ve seen a tremendous amount of inflation in my lifetime. Did it ruin the investment climate? I think not.” – Charlie Munger

“Proximity is not a stand in for expertise.” – Seth Godin

“Spend extravagantly on the things you love, but cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t.” – Ramit Sethi This past week I was watching the news and they showed the obligatory story on the $400+ million Powerball lottery.  There were the standard interviews with people buying tickets at gas stations and 7-11. What would…

“Diversify across securities, across asset classes, across markets – and across time.” – Charley Ellis Reader emailbag: I have been saving for a number of years and have a large cash balance that I would like to invest in the market.  Should I spread my purchases out or wait for the market to fall and…

After running  a rolling 5 year performance graph of high yield bonds this week I received a request from a reader that was interested in seeing similar charts for a handful of other asset classes.

“In this type of environment, superior returns are more likely to be earned through minimizing mistakes than through stretching for yield. Rather than behaving aggressively, the search for return should involve risk control, caution, discipline and selectivity.” – Howard Marks

“In the world of finance, the only black swans are the history that investors have not read.” – William Bernstein Following the 2007-09 financial crisis, many investors decided they needed insurance on their portfolio to protect against the possibility of another “black swan” event. It’s hard to believe that this was ever the case considering…

“We never stretch for yield.” – Warren Buffett Annaly Capital Management (NLY) is a mortgage real estate investment trust company. They own real estate properties and pays out the majority of their earnings, around 90%, in the form of dividends to receive special tax treatment as a REIT. The share price as of year-end 2010…