Bonds will provide an interesting case study in investor behavior in the years ahead. With interest rates at much lower levels than they have been in the recent past the same change in rates will now lead to much more volatility in bonds than it would have at the higher rates seen in the past….
Barriers to Entry in the Markets
I’ve spent the majority of my career performing due diligence on a wide variety of money managers, funds, and investment strategies. The due diligence process involves far more art than science but I’ve always found that it’s more helpful to use the process of elimination by spotting red flags rather than seeking out the perfect…
Q&A With Wes Gray & Jack Vogel on Liquid Alts
A couple weeks ago when I wrote about my evolution on asset allocation I said that I’ve learned a lot on the topic from Wes Gray and Jack Vogel at Alpha Architect. I’m in the middle of handling a new set of twins, but last week I had a chance to chat with these two to discuss their…
When Your Financial Plan Gets Thrown Out the Window
Woody Allen, quoting an old proverb, supposedly once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” I’m sure everyone has experienced this at some point but it feels like my life the past year or so is a good example of this quote. This past summer we found out my…
Think Global to Avoid the Shrinking U.S. Stock Market
A lot has been written in finance circles in recent years about the shrinking number of publicly-traded U.S. corporations. In this piece I wrote for Bloomberg I discuss what it means for investors in a more globalized world and why it is likely not that big of a deal for diversified investors. I also think…
The Expectation of Losses
The S&P 500 is up around 8% in 2017. There’s still a long ways to go and a lot can happen between now and then but if it holds it will be the 9th year in a row of gains for U.S. stocks. This year has also been eerily calm in the markets. Volatility has…
A Good Lesson For Millennial Investors
“Experience is what you got when you didn’t get what you wanted.” – Howard Marks The Snapchat IPO has done something most finance books, personal finance experts or nagging parents could not — it got large groups of millennials excited about investing in the stock market. The following comes from the USA Today just a…
Everything, in retrospect, is obvious
In the classic 1980s movie Cocktail, young Brian Flanagan (played masterfully by Tom Cruise) shacks up with an older woman who basically becomes his New York City sugar momma. They met at a bar in the Jamaica and it was never going to work out but they made a go of it anyways. When things eventually come…
When Markets Defy the Fed
One of the worst parts about investing for those who go through years of school to learn about finance and economics is that the real world rarely plays out like the textbook theories say. The human element often invalidates studies or theories that take place in a vacuum. The following is a piece I wrote…
Avoiding Filter Failure
Last week Morgan Stanley made some waves in the investment industry by announcing they would no longer carry Vanguard mutual funds. This may seem like a problem what with the growth in passive investing but I say it’s not that big of a deal for the following reasons: No one goes to Morgan Stanley to…
