We’re roughly seven months into the year and people are already starting to talk about how certain investment styles don’t work anymore. In the financial world, people act like seven months is considered statistically significant because everyone assumes that short-term trends trump all. The proliferation of a wide variety of new ETFs and mutual funds…

In The Education of a Value Investor, Guy Spier talks a lot about one of his biggest influences in the investment business — Mohnish Pabrai, who is a very well-known value investor. I’m a huge fan of Pabrai because of his simple, common sense way of looking at the world.

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…

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.

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…

There was a story before last year’s Super Bowl about Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and his off-season speaking gigs. In his talks with CEOs, coaches and investors he usually begins with a question for the audience: “Raise your hand if you have a philosophy for your team or organization.” Of course, everyone in the…

In an interview earlier this week I was asked a great question about the counter-intuitive nature of investing. The question was basically, “How can investors learn to swallow their pride to earn satisfactory, but above average returns while giving up on the chance to earn extraordinary returns?” This is especially difficult for those who work…

This morning the Wall Street Journal ran a story which showed that 2013 was the first year in decades that there was a net outflow from 401(k) plans. The immediate reaction by many was that this is just the start of a mass exodus from the markets by retiring baby boomers, which could have huge…

Richard Thaler’s new book, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, is about as good as it gets when it comes to understanding how human nature and various cognitive biases affect our decisions. It’s basically a historical account of the beginnings of the field of behavior economics told through Thaler’s personal and professional experiences. The entire book…