“The stock market is an inexact phenomenon. Laypersons’ opinions often seem as worthy as professionals’, and shoeshine men and brokers compete for genius.” – Michael Steinhardt Jerry Seinfeld and Steve Harvey had an interesting conversation on a recent episode of one of my favorite shows, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, about whether comedy is something…

A reader asks: I am hoping to retire early and would be interested in your thoughts on early retirement, how to plan for early retirement and how to approach saving/investments in order to meet an early retirement goal. Harry Sit, who writes The Finance Buff blog, is someone who is actually at the point where…

The U.S. has the largest, most liquid financial markets in the world. We also have one of the most globalized set of corporations that make up our stock market. The S&P 500 now gets something in the order of 40% of its sales from overseas. Based on this information, I’ve been asked the following question…

Things are starting to get interesting in the markets. Over the past couple of weeks, there’s been a constant barrage of bad news coming out about Greece, China, and Puerto Rico. Then yesterday the New York Stock Exchange decided to have a “technical glitch” and shut down for a few hours. Regardless of whether this…

In my previous post I took a look at why the momentum factor has worked historically in the markets. The past numbers are impressive, but there are some drawbacks, including high turnover, tax inefficiency, large drawdowns and high costs associated with momentum strategies. It’s also a fairly counter-intuitive approach to get comfortable with. Dual Momentum, a book by…

In a recent Q&A with Patrick O’Shaughnessy, I said the following when asked about the momentum factor: I’m a huge fan of the momentum factor, mainly for its diversification benefits. It’s also the least understood of the well-known risk factors. I’ve done a ton of work on momentum in my day job, but haven’t been…

It’s now been nine years since the Federal Reserve last raised the fed funds rate. The speculation grows by the week about when the first rate hike since 2006 will occur. Every economic data point that gets released is immediately put into terms about what it means for the potential for a rate hike.

Dissecting the monthly jobs report has turned into something of a Finance Twitter tradition. Once a month, the nonfarm payroll (NFP) numbers are released by the U.S. Department of Labor and the results receive as much attention in the finance community as the latest John Oliver segment gets from explainer journalists.

Investment strategies have a tendency to look beautiful on paper and in marketing pitch books. You get to see return numbers, risk-adjusted results and pretty looking graphs that show how great things were in the past. I’ve yet to come across a strategy that couldn’t be dressed up and made to look appealing by a…

This post is probably a little self-serving, but I’ve received a number of questions about my book from readers and wanted to address the most asked questions here. What’s the difference between the book and your blog? The general theme is very similar. The blog has been a great place for me to learn and develop…