Bob Maynard is one of the best investors you’ve probably never heard of. He runs the $14 billion pension fund for the state of Idaho and his long-term returns are consistently in the top quartile of the institutional fund world. The thing that sets Maynard apart from his institutional peers is the fact that he runs…

Investors are constantly bombarded with negatives these days. Everywhere you look there’s someone telling you why you can’t invest in certain asset classes or strategies: You can’t invest in the U.S. because the bull market is getting long in the tooth. You can’t invest internationally because those countries are a mess and what about the…

Bill McBride at Calculated Risk put out a fascinating table on his blog recently that shows the coming changes in the demographics in the United States: These numbers are amazing. In 2020, the most common ages will all be between 25 to 35 years old. I get questions all the time from investors asking me…

The Brexit vote has dominated the financial and political news cycle for the past few days (and rightly so). People are angry, confused and there are plenty of opinions out there on the potential implications on globalization, immigration, free trade, the working class, elites and a whole host of other topics that people are using…

“Don’t be surprised that you’re surprised by the markets.” – Unknown The UK has surprised nearly everyone by voting to leave the European Union. While the result of vote is now known, the economic and market implications are far from set in stone. Although, if today is any indication, the markets are not thrilled about…

One of the best parts about the Internet is that now nearly everyone has a platform to share their opinions. One of the worst parts about the Internet is that now nearly everyone has a platform to share their opinions. There has never been a better time to be an individual investor and the abundance of…

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to listen to hedge fund manager Jeff Gramm give a speech about his book Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism. It’s one of the most original investment books I’ve read in some time. Gramm details the history of shareholder activism using case studies of some…

The hedge fund industry has had no shortage of bad press in the past few years. High fees, high profile flameouts and generally awful returns have been none to kind to the once masters of the finance universe. This past month has given hedge funds yet another black-eye as well-known and highly respected Visium Asset Management…

A number of years ago, a staffer at the Pentagon prepared the following document:   This memo was sent to President Bush in April of 2001, a mere six months before 9/11. Trying to figure out what the future holds in terms of geopolitical events is a fool’s errand. No one knows what’s going to…

My first boss in this business was not only an intelligent investor but also a great businessman. I learned a lot from him about investing but also about running a business in general. All of the firm’s client were acquired through word of mouth and client referrals. There were no sales or marketing teams. And…