“When clients pay attention to noise, we call it dumb. When advisors do it, we call it research.” – Carl Richards I feel that most investors should be able to manage their investments on their own. The playing field has been leveled in the past few decades, giving individual investors the ability to handle their…

“In an ideal world everyone would generate sufficient savings on their own to help fund their own retirement. However most of the data shows that Americans are simply unable to do this on their own.” – Tadas Viskanta In one of my MBA classes on leadership and organizational behavior we went over the five personality…

“We have an entire generation of investors who have never experienced a rising rate environment.” – Gary Cohn, Goldman Sachs If you missed the first 5 parts in my series on bond investing be sure to read: Part 1 – Investing in Bonds Part 2 – Why Bother Investing in Bonds? Part 3 – Bond Investment…

I am excited to be featured in Larry MacDonald’s Me and My Money column this weekend in the Globe and Mail. The article includes a profile of my investment approach, some of my best and worst investments over the years and my advice for investors. Here’s the article: Analyst Puts His ‘Probability Bet’ on Index…

“If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.” – Yogi  Berra Common sense reader mailbag: What am I supposed to invest in these days? Stocks are probably overvalued or at the very least due for a severe pullback with such huge gains over the last 5 years. And bond interest rates are extremely low so they…

“The market’s not a very accommodating machine; it won’t provide high returns just because you need them.” – Peter Bernstein If you missed the first four parts of my series on bond investing be sure to check them out: Part 1 – Investing in Bonds Part 2 – Why Bother Investing in Bonds? Part 3 – Bond Investment Risks…

“People have always had this craving to have someone tell them the future. Long ago, kings would hire people to read sheep guts. There’s always been a market for people who pretend to know the future. Listening to today’s forecasters is just as crazy as when he king hired the guy to look at the…

“Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable will power to keep from following the crowd.” – Benjamin Graham I’ve spent the last couple of weeks going over the different aspects of investing in the bond market. Earlier this week I covered investing in bond funds, but I didn’t spend too much time addressing…

“The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” – Benjamin Disraeli Doug Kass recently shared an interesting story in an article about an early investor with Warren Buffett in the 1960s. This particular investor was a rabbi named Myer Kripke that had become friends…

“It’s important for investors to remember the reasons they own bonds in the first place – namely for the potential for the preservation of capital, income and growth, relative steadiness and typically low to negative correlations with equities. These needs – which will only become more urgent as millions of baby boomers head to retirement…