Search Results for: "benchmark"

The Tyranny of Benchmarking

A number of years ago the firm I worked for went through a lengthy review process of the compensation policies for our investment team. Management was trying to make sure our pay was aligned with industry averages but specifically, they were overhauling our bonus pool. A compensation consultant was brought in. The process took a…

How Should Alternative Investments Be Benchmarked?

Following my recent piece on the future of the hedge fund industry, a reader asked: Interest rates are too low and stock market volatility is too high so we have to hold some alternatives in our client portfolios. Our problem is how do we benchmark these funds? S&P 500? 60/40 portfolio? A hedge fund index?…

The Pitfalls of Benchmarking

The latest SPIVA numbers are out and once again it doesn’t look too pretty in terms of active management’s ability to outperform their benchmarks: The passive management revolution, the zero-sum nature of investing, the fact that markets are so competitive these days and the high cost of active management are the prime suspects for these…

Talk Your Book: How to Create Income in Your Portfolio

Today’s Animal Spirits: Talk Your Book is presented by the Covered Bridge Fund: We discuss: What are covered calls? Why it’s sot hard to find an investment strategy that sits between stocks and bonds Pros and cons of a covered call strategy The different types of options income strategies How to benchmark alternative strategies What…

Simple vs. Complex, 2019 Edition

Charley Ellis is one of my favorite communicators in the investment world. His career has intersected with a number of different investment organizations which gives him a unique perspective on how things typically work. His book Winning the Loser’s Game is an all-timer investment book and his approach to minimizing mistakes resonated with me immediately upon…

Peter Lynch: The Barry Sanders of Investing

One Up on Wall Street is one of the first 5 or 6 investing books I read early on in my career when I still knew nothing about how the markets operate. I enjoyed it mostly because Lynch’s affection for the markets is infectious. His love for the game of investing leaps off the pages…