“Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” – Mark Twain No one knows what’s going to happen in the future, especially when it comes to the financial markets. That’s why there will always be topics up for debate. There are some people in…
Ben Carlson
The Style Box of the Future
“The bottom line is that since diversification is the only free lunch in investing, you might as well eat a lot of it.” – Larry Swedroe I was recently asked if there’s any room in the financial advice industry for innovation at the product level. Specifically, what do I think will be the biggest changes…
Expectations Management
“We tend to judge the probability of an event by the ease with which we can call it to mind.” – Daniel Kahneman I was interviewed on the radio show Market Wrap with Moe Ansari last week. The final question I was asked was, ‘What can we expect stocks to do over the next 3…
Myths and Misconceptions About Indexing
“Despite the theory and publicized long-term success of indexed investment strategies, criticisms and misconceptions remain.” – Vanguard
Charlie Munger on Human Misjudgement
“We can’t change the world. The only thing we can change is ourselves, by trying to get a better understanding of our own messed-up wiring.” – Guy Spier In last week’s Intelligent Investor column for the Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig discussed value investor Guy Spier’s journey to reinvent himself as both a thinker and…
What Does The Bursting of a Bond “Bubble” Look Like?
A lot has been made about the potential for a bond bubble with interest rates near historic lows and not much room to fall any further. Even though rates are down this year, investors have been worried for some time about what happens when rates do eventually rise. As a quick refresher, bond prices and…
Time Traveling to Prior Crash Predictions
“To succeed at any activity involving the pursuit of gain, we have to be able to withstand the possibility of loss.” – Howard Marks
Adam Sandler and Complacency Risk
“Hey, why don’t I just go eat some hay, make things out of clay, lay by the bay? I just may! What’d ya say?” – Happy Gilmore You know a comedy movie is going to be terrible if they can’t even string together enough funny parts for the trailer. The new Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore movie…
A Closer Look at the Russell 2000 & An Appreciation for Mid Cap Stocks
“Over the years, I’ve become convinced that fluctuations in investor attitudes towards risk contribute more to major market movements than anything else. I don’t expect this to ever change.” – Howard Marks Small caps have been on everybody’s radar this year because the Russell 2000 experienced a 10% drop. This is more commonplace than you…
My Letter to Young Analysts
“But there are all sorts of analysts in the investment world, including many that have titles that don’t contain the word “analyst.” An analyst, then, is simply someone who analyzes, who examines an investment problem with a critical eye.” – Tom Brakke Tom Brakke from The Research Puzzle has put out an excellent resource for…