A few things I’ve been pondering lately…
Why has the average credit card rate remained at ~15%? Interest rates on mortgage, bonds and car loans have all fallen drastically since 2007. Why not credit card rates? I understand these rates need to be higher but why has the spread compared to other credit instruments not compressed at all?
What’s the endgame with Bitcoin? I’ve read that it’s going to revolutionize online payments as we know them…or it’s going to be a complete failure as a currency that’s over-hyped by techies who hate the government. I have no idea on this one and wouldn’t be surprised by either outcome.
Why aren’t there seat belts on every bus in America? I’ve seen the videos where the kids get thrown around like rag dolls when a bus gets into an accident. We have to wear seat belts in cars and kids have to sit in a car seat until like age 15 these days, but they don’t need to wear a seat belt on a bus?
Why do investors always ask if it’s time to sell stocks after they’ve fallen and then ask if it’s time to buy after they’ve risen?
Let’s say you’re a pension invested in Bill Ackman’s hedge fund – How do you explain to your investment committee what your strategy is for that allocation going forward? Ackman’s track record is phenomenal but he obviously has blow-up potential and risk management issues. He’s put his investors in an unenviable position.
Does premium gasoline really make a difference versus using regular? How about paying $15 for the super car wash versus the $5 express wash? It seems to me that both of these options are the result of marketing over improved quality.
How do negative interest rates affect debt-to-GDP ratios? Shouldn’t the debt-to-GDP ratios be going down for all of these countries offering negative interest rate-paying bonds because they’re not paying any interest on their debt?
Why do people these days think in such extremes? We’re constantly focused on predicting regime changes and black swans. Everything has to be the greatest or worst thing ever. Markets are always either at top or a bottom. Everything is either over- or under-rated. Nothing is ever properly rated these days.
If the 1990s were so great, why were the people still so miserable? The best pop culture movies from that decade (in no particular order) are probably:
- Reality Bites
- Singles
- Beautiful Girls
- PCU
- Swingers
Everyone in these movies was unhappy.
The 90s saw one of the greatest booms ever. Markets were up big. Economic growth was strong. Inflation was subdued. Jobs were plentiful. Nostalgia can cause people to assume that the past was much better than it really was, but even when things actually are pretty great, people probably still won’t be very happy.
Why haven’t we seen a mutual fund manager who embraces both active and passive management? They could invest something like 75-80% of their assets in the benchmark ETF or index fund and the remaining 20-25% could be used for concentrated stock picks. Wouldn’t this be better than the current crop of closet index funds?
Why is there no robo-advisor in the real estate business yet? Real estate agents are still earning 5-6% commissions and house hunting can now be done online. Why has this industry not been disrupted yet?
Why do companies get blamed for “missing expectations” when they release quarterly earnings numbers and not the analysts who create those expectations? Why don’t they ever say, “analyst expectations missed the actual results again”?
Why isn’t there a national holiday on Thursday and Friday afternoon during the first weekend of March Madness? No one is getting any work done anyways.
Why don’t more sell-side research analysts practice technical analysis? It seem that they’re all fundamental analysts who set price targets and tell you the value of a stock based on their discounted cash flow models, but they can rarely tell you when it’s a good time to buy or sell the companies they follow. It’s not like their track records could get any worse, right?
Why are our dogs always so excited to see us when we get home? Every single day it’s like my dog and I have a reunion that feels like my she hasn’t seen me in years.
Before Google existed, did people just walk around saying, “I don’t know…” all the time?
Why aren’t subjects like personal finance, coding, psychology, leadership, problem solving and statistics mandatory in all of our high schools?
Why do so many people assume that a politician can either solve or cause all of their problems?
Further Reading:
10 Questions I’m Thinking About
Now here’s what I’ve been reading this week:
- How to become resilient (New Yorker)
- The progress of science and ourselves (Bason)
- Read this before you craft and investment policy statement (Abnormal Returns)
- Reinventing Wall Street’s research model (Big Picture)
- How to evaluate an advisor (Financial Architects)
- Surviving the short-term (Irrelevant Investor)
- What Vietnam taught us about breaking bad habits (NPR)
- Stocks for the long run? (Fortune Financial)
- Buffett explains bubbles (Novel Investor)
- Smarter, Faster, Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business (Amazon)
