On this week’s Animal Spirits we discussed dividend yields in various stock markets around the globe and how they provide a silver lining during a stock sell-off: Here’s the chart we referred to on the show: Stocks have popped around 10% or so since the massacre on Christmas Eve but this is a nice…
Two Skills That Normally Don’t Go Together
“Perfection of planning is a symptom of decay.” – C. Northcote Parkinson In the lead up to World War II, the French developed an intricate series of concrete fortifications along their borders to prevent the Germans from invading. The Maginot Line was something of an underground fortress created in response to the brutal trench warfare…
Animal Spirits Episode 63: Record Outflows
This week’s Animal Spirits with Michael & Ben is sponsored by YCharts: Mention Animal Spirits and receive 20% off your subscription price when you initially sign up for the service. We discuss: The record outflows from mutual funds. How outflows are impacting passive and active funds differently. Why the S&P 500 is so hard to beat. Investing…
Updating My Favorite Performance Chart for 2018
It’s become an annual tradition on this blog to update asset class returns on an asset allocation quilt I created for a few reasons: (a) Asset allocation is typically the most important aspect of portfolio management so understanding how the various asset classes performed is instructive when trying to understand your results. (b) This is a…
10 Things Investors Can Expect in 2019
I have no idea what’s going to happen — in world events, politics, or the market — in 2019 (and neither does anyone else). This baked in uncertainty is what makes the financial markets equal parts maddening and fun to prepare for. There’s no way to reduce the inherent uncertainty about the future or know…
Can The Unemployment Rate Signal a Recession?
We’re closing in on the 10th year of this economic expansion. A few more months and this will officially be the longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history. The U.S. economy has now experienced 99 straight months with positive gains in the job market. We’re fast approaching 20 million jobs added since the start of this…
2017 vs. 2018 in the Stock Market
It takes the Earth roughly 365 days to orbit the sun so that’s what we’ve agreed upon as the definition for a full calendar year. Orbiting the sun has nothing to do with the financial markets but people still spend an inordinate amount of time figuring out what the new year will bring in the…
Animal Spirits Episode 62: The Market Swoon
This week’s Animal Spirits with Michael & Ben is sponsored by YCharts: Mention Animal Spirits and receive 20% off your subscription price when you sign up. We discuss: Steve Mnuchin’s bizarre statement on the banks. Big up and down days in the market. What’s the biggest cause of the market’s downturn? Are algos really to blame…
Mindless Resolutions
The book Mindless Eating gives a stat that can’t possibly be verified but I still kind of believe it. It estimates that 95% of people who lose weight on a diet end up gaining it back. Maybe this is one of those stats that’s a little deceiving like the 50% divorce rate. That stat is so…
The Forgotten Bear Markets
After closing at an all-time high on September 20, the S&P 500 entered a bear market on Christmas Eve. The technical definition is a 20% peak-to-trough drawdown, but I’m willing to give this 19.8% fall the benefit of the doubt. There was a decent rally the rest of the week, but regardless if this was THE…
