The size of the global asset management industry is staggering. Boston Consulting Group estimates that as of year end 2016 there was close to $70 trillion in assets under management globally (meaning money that paid a fee for the management of assets). Here’s the breakdown showing the growth in worldwide AUM since 2002: It would only make sense…

In the 30 years ended 2016, the S&P 500 returned just over 10% per year. Compounding at that rate, fifty grand invested at the start of 1987 would have grown to nearly $875,000 by the end of last year. Not bad. Besides the usual caveats — taxes, fees, behavior, diversification, etc. — the problem with…

Jason Zweig and Morgan Housel are two of my favorite writers and thinkers. They explain the complexities of business, markets and human behavior better than anyone. I’ve learned a lot from these two when it comes to writing, communicating and focusing on what matters. I don’t disagree with these guys very often but I’m going…

After seeing countless stories and statistics on the Canadian housing market I did some research to check things out for myself. The numbers I found are staggering. They make the U.S. housing bubble that led up to the financial crisis look like an amateur. I don’t throw around the word ‘bubble’ loosely but the Canadian housing…

A couple years ago I read an article about a new online brokerage firm that was geared towards young people called Robinhood. It sounded intriguing so I opened up an account to give it a test run. The great thing about Robinhood is that all trades are commission free. I trade infrequently but I’m always…

“The single greatest challenge you face as an investor is handling the truth about yourself.” – Jason Zweig In a presentation I gave a couple weeks ago I used the following slide: Your Money & Your Brain by Jason Zweig is my favorite book on human behavior so I’m constantly sourcing, re-reading and using material from…

It’s hard to believe but it’s now been 10 years since the first rumblings began prior to the Great Financial Crisis. My guess is we’ll be re-living many of the events that led to the worst crisis since the Great Depression in the months and years ahead. Financial stocks and some home builders saw some…

It’s much easier to come up with the reasons for a bear market after the fact so I like the idea of thinking these things through beforehand, even if it’s impossible to predict the future. Here’s a piece I wrote for Bloomberg laying out some possible scenarios that could derail this bull market. ******* I…

10 questions I’m pondering at the moment: 1. Are investors right to worry about bonds more than stocks? The Wealth of Common Sense anecdotal sentiment reading shows that most investors are more concerned with bonds these days than stocks. Risk is in the eye of the beholder but I wonder if this worry will be a…

A few weeks ago I wrote that I’m optimistic about the future of the finance industry. Maybe this is the value investor in me talking because expectations are so low following the financial crisis but I’m especially bullish on young people in finance. My views could be clouded by my personal experience but the up-and-comers…