Thinking and acting long-term for the long-term is one of the few edges remaining in the markets. Bring up this idea and there will almost always be someone waiting to take the other side with the ‘what about Japan?’ argument. Japan’s two-and-half decade economic and market struggles make for some important lessons but most investors…

I started working with the team at Ritholtz Wealth Management one year ago this week. It’s been a wonderful experience so far to work with such great colleagues and clients. But it’s also been a great learning experience for me, as well. I had never worked for an RIA (registered independent advisor) before. My previous roles…

I caught Vanguard’s John Bogle on a recent Bloomberg interview discussing his simple formula for estimating future stock market returns: I have a reasonable expectations kind of formula that I’ve been using for 25 years and it’s worked the whole 25 years almost perfectly. There’s some decades where it doesn’t work as well as it…

GMO’s Jeremy Grantham and Lucas White came out with a report entitled An Investment Only a Mother Could Love this past week laying out the prospects for natural resource equities. Here’s the executive summary of their findings and thoughts: We believe the prices of many commodities will rise in the decades to come due to…

There is a new Robert Cialdini book out this week — Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade. I have it on my Kindle but have just started reading it. I’m sure I’ll have more to say when I finish it in the coming weeks. The reason I’m so excited about this new effort…

Pundits are notorious for using phrases and cliches that make them sound intelligent but don’t really tell you anything. Many of these cliches have been used for decades now so I thought it was time for some updates to reflect the sentiment during the latest cycle. For example, ‘It’s a stock-picker’s market’ can now be…

Long Term Capital Management is a perfect example of how hubris can derail even the most brilliant of investors. The hedge fund was filled with PhDs and Nobel Laureates, but was highly leveraged while relying far too heavily on quantitative risk models that didn’t factor in the potential for unexpected events to occur. When Russia defaulted on…

“History is defined by people who don’t really understand what they are defining.” – Chuck Klosterman I’ve been reading Chuck Klosterman’s work for well over a decade now. His early books — Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story and Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto — had me hooked on his eclectic thoughts and…

The markets have a way of making investors fearful whether stocks are up (they can’t rise any further can they?) or down (surely the worst is yet to come, right?). It’s always something which is what makes the markets equal parts fascinating and gut-wrenching. There was a great post at The Monevator this week where the pseudonymous…

A few things I’ve come to realize about money as I recently hit the mid-point of my 30s… 1. A successful financial life comes from increasing your career prospects and saving the difference, but that doesn’t happen with lifestyle creep. Most personal finance experts talk about how much you can save from cutting back, but very…