August 2016

Ten Things Investors Can Learn From the Horse Track

“We look for a horse with one chance in two of winning which pays you three to one” – Charlie Munger Michael Mauboussin, one of the sharpest thinkers in finance once said, “Crist on Value is one of the best 13 pages on investing I have ever read.” I couldn’t agree more, it’s fantastic. The essay…

Performance Chasers Exit

U.S. stocks got off to the worst start ever in 2016 and high beta stocks got absolutely obliterated, falling 21% in the first 28 trading days of the year. High beta’s counterpart, low volatility stocks provided investors with some protection as they fell just under 5%. And interest followed performance…   And assets weren’t far…

Stock Market Gains On FOMC Days

In June 2011, the Wisconsin Republican party claimed that Scott Walker’s policies were responsible for over 50% of U.S. job growth. While 9,500 out of the 18,000 jobs added in the United States did come from Wisconsin, claiming that they were responsible for half of the country’s growth is being very liberal with the truth….

One Million Market Beaters

Uncertainty remains, but Florida is in the cross hairs. What to expect today after tornado outbreak. Why we’re watching Gaston closely now. These headlines were pulled from a few articles today at weather.com. You could seamlessly replace Florida, tornado, and Gaston with a stock because like the weather, markets are highly complex with countless variables that…

Worried About The Election?

The 2016 election is shaping up to be historic, similar to the 57 previous ones we’ve had going back to 1789. People are wondering what a Hillary or Trump presidency might mean for their money. They’re also wondering whether we’ll see a pickup in stock market volatility as we approach November 8th. Volatility will pick…

Everybody Tries To Beat The Market

The first investing book I ever read was The Intelligent Investor. Although most of it went completely over my head, the Mr. Market part of it totally resonated. “Yea, you’re your own worst enemy. Don’t be influenced by the daily fluctuations in the market. Got it.” Then I read the Little Book of Common Sense…

The Next Twenty Percent

  “If you desire a ride to Baghdad, here is a magic carpet; if you desire your enemy dead, here is a magic doll; if you desire unlimited riches, here is a forecast of interest rates.” – Deirdre McCloskey Will the next $2,618,907,150,799 be added to or removed from the U.S. stock market? Nobody would answer…

Man Plus Machine

This weekend on Masters In Business Barry had on (for the second time) one of my favorite thinkers, Michael Mauboussin. Early on in the interview, while they were discussing quantitative models, Mauboussin brought up an interesting point- what happens when you combine the power of a machine with the power of the human brain? Mauboussin…

Seeking Alternatives

One of the appeals of having a portfolio of stocks and bonds is their tendency to move in opposite directions, especially when stocks fall. In fact, there have only been eight times that stocks and bonds both fell for consecutive months and only once did they both fall for three consecutive months. The data above…

Distractions Cost Investors 115%

The S&P 500 is now up 270% from the lows made in March 2009, but how many people were actually able to harvest those gains? In the 89 months since the market bottomed, investors have had had a barrage of distractions thrown at them. From the Sequestration to the Fiscal Cliff and from China to…