Stock valuations are getting into potentially overvalued territory. Bond yields — from government to high yield to corporates — have all fallen precipitously since the financial crisis. Real estate, venture capital and private equity are also likely reaching above average valuation levels. It’s tough for investors to know what to do in this situation. Zero…

In The Success Equation, Michael Mauboussin tells the story of a man in the 1970s who set out to find a lottery ticket ending with the number 48. He bought the ticket he was looking for and ended up winning the lottery using his lucky numbers. When the man was asked why he wanted that…

Yesterday I sent out the following tweet after seeing a link from Investment News about how “a million dollar producer has jumped ship”: Obviously, it’s not this guy’s fault that ‘producer’ is really just some industry jargon for how much revenue an advisor or broker is bringing in for the firm.  But if your advisor…

Bill Gross thinks the end is near for a bubble in both stocks and bonds, according to his interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin in the latest New York Times Magazine: Is the bubble in stocks or in bonds? I think both. I sort of have a sense of an ending. I think that the 35-year…

Being secure in your own investment strategy is tough these days since almost anyone can share their thoughts or make comments on websites, social media and blogs. Everywhere you look there’s a critic who’s willing and able to tear apart someone else’s investment philosophy. This causes the strong adherents to come to the defense of…

There are two types of investors out there today (and yes this is an extreme over-generalization): 1. Those who spend all their time obsessing over the next 5-10% correction and when it will happen. 2. Those who are becoming complacent to the risk of a correction or a bear market. Both stances are potentially dangerous…

Everyone’s been talking about the Mad Men series finale lately. I’ll spare you my opinion on Don, Betty and Peggy’s swan song, but I’ve been a huge fan of the show since day one. Midway through the final season, Don Draper was finalizing his divorce with former secretary-turned-failing-actress Megan. To save both of them the…

“If you don’t have superior insight, how can something be to your advantage?” – Howard Marks Last week I had the chance to speak to a group of finance students at Drexel University about my experiences in the investment industry. I tried to share with these students some of the things I wish I had been…

I read plenty of stories in the financial media about the coming retirement crisis, but I see far fewer people willing to offer legitimate solutions to the problem of under-saving by the majority of Americans. Legendary author and investor Charley Ellis put out a book at the end of last year — Falling Short: The Coming…

A couple weeks I looked at the history of corrections in long-term U.S. treasury bonds. I received a few follow-up questions from people asking for the same information on intermediate bonds for a comparison between the different bond maturities from a risk perspective. The Barclays Aggregate Index, the industry standard for an intermediate bond benchmark,…