Long Term Capital Management is a perfect example of how hubris can derail even the most brilliant of investors. The hedge fund was filled with PhDs and Nobel Laureates, but was highly leveraged while relying far too heavily on quantitative risk models that didn’t factor in the potential for unexpected events to occur. When Russia defaulted on…

“History is defined by people who don’t really understand what they are defining.” – Chuck Klosterman I’ve been reading Chuck Klosterman’s work for well over a decade now. His early books — Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story and Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto — had me hooked on his eclectic thoughts and…

The markets have a way of making investors fearful whether stocks are up (they can’t rise any further can they?) or down (surely the worst is yet to come, right?). It’s always something which is what makes the markets equal parts fascinating and gut-wrenching. There was a great post at The Monevator this week where the pseudonymous…

A few things I’ve come to realize about money as I recently hit the mid-point of my 30s… 1. A successful financial life comes from increasing your career prospects and saving the difference, but that doesn’t happen with lifestyle creep. Most personal finance experts talk about how much you can save from cutting back, but very…

“Averages and relationships and trends and graphs are not always what they seem. There may be more in them than meets the eye, and there may be a good deal less.” – Darrell Huff There was a study a number of years ago that split a number of people into two separate groups. One was…

There are a lot of brilliant investors out there, but very few brilliant investors who are also brilliant communicators. It’s rare to find someone in the investment industry who has the ability to explain complex topics about the markets and investing in a way that a wide audience can understand. That’s why investors are constantly quoting…

Last week the New York Times had a story about how everyone’s favorite punching bags, the millennials, aren’t using credit cards nearly as much as previous generations: Data from the Federal Reserve indicates that the percentage of Americans under 35 who hold credit card debt has fallen to its lowest level since 1989, when the…

In my last post I talked about how difficult it can be to invest in emerging markets because they are so volatile. Going back to the late-1980s, emerging markets have exhibited over 60% higher volatility in monthly returns than the S&P 500. Small cap stocks, as measured by the Russell 2000, have also shown more volatility…

I get a steady stream of questions from readers in my inbox. I try to respond to as many as I can but thought it would be a good idea to start answering some of those questions here on the blog. I’ll try to do this once a month so feel free to email me…

Ever since the financial crisis investors have been bombarded with books, blog posts, articles and advice about how to survive the next bear market/Lehman Brothers/black swan/recession/subprime/1987/big short moment in the markets. And don’t get me wrong, preparing yourself mentally for market downturns can be a helpful exercise. These things are inevitable so planning for a…