Interest rates are a huge driving force behind many investment decisions. You can call them discount rates, hurdle rates, lending rates, borrowing rates or whatever, but their level definitely has an affect on risk appetites. But I also think it’s possible for investors to put too much faith into the almighty interest rate. For instance,…

There’s never been a better time to be an investor. Expenses are coming down. It’s cheaper than ever to trade. Strategies that were once reserved for large institutional funds at exorbitant fees are now available to every investor through low-cost mutual funds and ETFs. The sheer amount of data and computing power available has completely leveled…

In my book I discussed the fact that investing is inherently an exercise in regret minimization: Everything about the investment process is a series of trade-offs. Investing itself is delaying current consumption for future consumption. […] Investing really comes down to regret minimization. Some investors will regret missing out on huge gains while others will…

Most investors assume that the only thing that matters is whether they’re right or wrong. This is an incomplete assessment of what it takes to make money in the markets. Being right or wrong all the time is more about ego than making money. Risk only matters when there are consequences attached to your actions….

“[Checklists] catch mental flaws inherent in all of us—flaws of memory and attention and thoroughness. And because they do, they raise wide, unexpected possibilities.” – Atul Gawande Benchmark Capital’s Bill Gurley recently sat down to talk with Recode’s Kara Swisher on her podcast about the state of the venture capital world (he’s worried). He also shared…

I’m thrilled that we were able to get Charley Ellis to come speak at our upcoming Evidence-Based Investing Conference. Ellis is a legend in the field of both individual and institutional investing. I’m currently working my way through his new book, The Index Revolution: Why Investors Should Join It Now.  The book is something of a…

A couple weeks ago I talked about how the new DOL fiduciary rules are mostly an industry worry at this point since most outside observers aren’t paying attention to this stuff or don’t know that it exists in the first place. After all, why should there have to be new legislation in place that forces those…

I saw a story recently on why New England Patriots head football coach Bill Belichick has been so successful for so long in such an ultra-competitive league as the NFL where coaches typically have a short shelf life. Belichick was described as a huge fan of Charlie Munger’s ideas on the power of inversion. Instead of looking…

Time for another round of reader questions. Feel free to reach out with any feedback or questions and I’ll try to do this once a month or so if people are interested. Q. Do you have any advice in regards to technical skills that aspiring analyst should try and acquire that may add incremental value…

Another well-know hedge fund manager announced this week that it’s closing shop. Richard Perry, of Perry Capital Management, decided to close the firm’s flagship fund and send the majority of capital back to investors. This was once one of the largest hedge funds in the industry and has been around for almost three decades, so…