“You have to build systems to protect against your lesser self.” – Tim Ferriss I’m a big fan of the new Tim Ferriss podcast. He interviews successful people from a wide range of backgrounds and shares interesting productivity and process improvements. His latest with author Neil Strauss is the best one I’ve listened to yet….
What if You Only Bought Near Market Bottoms?
A few months ago I looked at what would happen if you only invested at market peaks over a long time frame. It turned out the results weren’t as bad as you would think. Gaspar Fierro, a blogger at the Spanish website Rankia, decided to run the numbers on the opposite end of the spectrum…
Learning From Vanguard Investors
“This is one of the most important rules of investing. If you never peek from the age of 20 to the age of 70, you’ll rip that first 401(k) statement open at age 70, and I recommend you have a doctor on hand because you’ll go into a dead faint. Your heart might even stop….
My Idea for a TV Show About Investing
“Doc Brown was the brains of the operation, but Marty McFly would have done better on CNBC.” – Jeff Macke In Clash of the Financial Pundits, Jeff Macke asks CNBC contributor Karen Finerman if most people are better off not watching financial television every day. Here was her response: You’re maybe better off – not maybe;…
A Few Reminders
Some simple reminders about what to focus on: Portfolio management not investment strategies. Meeting your needs & desires not beating benchmarks. Risk management not risk measurement. Long-term process not short-term outcomes. Products you understand not investments that sound clever. Important not urgent. Simplicity not complexity. Think opportunities not volatility. Fewer decisions not more choices. Enough…
What Kind of Investor Are You?
“Job one for the investor, then, is to learn as best she can, to ignore the day-to-day and year-to-year speculative return in order to earn the fundamental return.” – William Bernstein William Bernstein continues to put out thought-provoking, no-nonsense books on investing. Rational Expectations: Asset Allocation for Investing Adults is his latest and it didn’t…
The Joy of Investing in Down Markets
“If you expect to be a net saver during the next five years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise…
Why Value Investing Works
“This [value investing] is a pretty good thing to have as part of your portfolio but it does not always work, cause nothing does.” – Cliff Asness In his recent speech at the Morningstar Conference, Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management shared his thoughts on the two main reasons that value investing works: (1) Cheap…
Available Doesn’t Mean Necessary
“We could spend the rest of our lives researching an ever-increasing number of choices and searching for perfect, but to what end? We have better things to do.” – Carl Richards
How Diversification Smooths Investment Cycles
“A great deal of data, and all my experience, tell me that the only thing we can predict about cycles is their inevitability.” – Howard Marks Howard Marks has the uncanny ability to take the complex topic of investing and translate the big picture ideas into simple terms. This is a rare trait in the…
