“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…

Thoughts on the 1st quarter performance numbers:

“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…

“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…

“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…

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” – George Carlin

“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

“Proximity is not a stand in for expertise.” – Seth Godin

“Spend extravagantly on the things you love, but cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t.” – Ramit Sethi This past week I was watching the news and they showed the obligatory story on the $400+ million Powerball lottery.  There were the standard interviews with people buying tickets at gas stations and 7-11. What would…

“Diversify across securities, across asset classes, across markets – and across time.” – Charley Ellis Reader emailbag: I have been saving for a number of years and have a large cash balance that I would like to invest in the market.  Should I spread my purchases out or wait for the market to fall and…