“Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.” — Charlie Munger Following The Four Abilities Every Investor Needs to be Successful post from a few weeks ago, I received a number of reader requests for book recommendations to learn more about financial market history and…
Ben Carlson
How Financial Advisors Can Fend Off the Robots
“When clients pay attention to noise, we call it dumb. When advisors do it, we call it research.” – Carl Richards Business Insider ran the following graph with data from a recent Oxford University study on the jobs that are most at risk of being replaced by robots in the future: I’ve highlighted 8th occupation…
Beware Stock Picks From Your Favorite Media Pundit
“Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.” – Warren Buffett The Mutual Fund Observer by David Snowball is fast becoming one of my favorite investing reads. He packs his monthly update with a ton of information and analysis on mutual funds, investment strategies, portfolio managers and the markets at-large. In the latest edition…
Do You Need Commodities in Your Portfolio?
“Early adopters reap the initial high returns and low correlations of a novel asset class; then one or more multiple academic and trade journal articles will describe those benefits, always accompanied by plump, curvaceous two-dimensional mean-variance plots. Last come Readers Digest versions in the mass media.” – William Bernstein The common refrain from many financial…
Quarterly Market Performance Update
Thoughts on the 1st quarter performance numbers:
You Can’t Always be a Contrarian
“Since the basic game is so favorable, Charlie and I believe it’s a terrible mistake to try to dance in and out of it based upon the turn of tarot cards, the predictions of “experts,” or the ebb and flow of business activity. The risks of being out of the game are huge compared to…
The Larry Swedroe 5/25 Rule
“Rebalancing, or the process of restoring a portfolio to its original composition, is integral to the winning investment strategy. It requires you to buy what has done relatively poorly (at relatively low valuations) and sell what has done relatively well (at relatively high valuations).” – Larry Swedroe Larry Swedroe has an interesting strategy for rebalancing…
What Happens to Stocks When Profit Margins Contract?
“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…
8 Symptoms of Groupthink
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” – George Carlin
Should You Worry About Inflation Affecting Your Stock Returns?
“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