It’s that time of the year again. Everyone is weighing in with tax tips to prepare investors for the tax preparation that follows the new year. I didn’t want to be left out of the fun, so I consulted with John Corn, a certified public accountant and a wealth advisor with Buckingham (with whom I…
As 2015 approaches, and you begin thinking about resolutions for the new year, make changing the way you invest your first priority. “Active investing” means trying to outperform benchmark indexes (such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 index) through market timing and stock picking. You can capture the returns of a benchmark index (less the…
Do you play recreational tennis or golf? Would you bet your retirement savings you could beat Roger Federer or Tiger Woods? Of course you wouldn’t. In most areas of your life, you objectively assess your skill level, and make intelligent decisions about the outcome of your planned activities. Overconfidence is common in investing. Unfortunately, many…
In previous blog posts, I’ve discussed the dismal performance of actively managed mutual funds. I also noted this underperformance has not gone unnoticed by investors. Actively managed funds have experienced massive outflows through September, while index funds have seen net inflows for the past eight months. The slim chance of “winning.” But this isn’t the…
In most areas of human endeavor, we use the term “professional” to refer to someone whose educational background and skill level give him or her a level of expertise worthy of admiration or deference. It doesn’t work that way with investing. The term “investment pro” is tossed around with abandon. It refers to anyone who…
October was a wild ride for investors. At its low, the Dow Jones Industrial average plunged 5.2 percent from its September high. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 6.2 percent and the Nasdaq was down 7.4 percent. Global headlines seized upon market uncertainty and featured tabloid-style “advice,” posing questions such as, “Is this the…
The securities industry has a vested interest in making investments complicated and opaque. Confusion, obfuscation, fear and anxiety are often the basic tools of its trade. While purportedly “market-beating” brokers and advisors tend to profit handsomely in all market conditions, the performance of the typical investor over the past 20 years has been accurately described…
I have long felt the greatest threat to the retirement dreams of most investors can be found in the combination of misinformation promulgated by the securities industry and much of the financial media. Together, they deliver a stream of marketing hype carefully crafted to enrich themselves at your expense. They seem to go into overdrive…
You don’t need to pick stocks or eschew all risk to be a good investor. Convenient truths vs. evidence-based investing It’s easy for investors to absorb myths on best investing practices from the media and financial pundits. That’s why it’s important to know the difference between well-researched advice and entertainment masquerading as financial news. Be…
I am sometimes described as “contrary.” Actually, the more commonly used terms are “opinionated,” “arbitrary” and “judgmental.” There may be varying degrees of truth to all of them. Today, however, rather than temper or minimize my “contrarian” views, I’ve decided to embrace them. Some of the statements I’m told fall into this category are: 1….
It’s no longer surprising when hedge funds close their doors. According to a website that tracks hedge fund “implosions,” since late 2006, aptly-named The Hedge Fund Implode-O-Meter, at least 117 major funds at 71 fund families have shuttered. The sponsoring fund families are some of the best-known in the business. They include Citigroup, Carlyle, Russell…
Research shows these funds are not producing enough returns to cover trading and operating expenses. I’m not going to make you wait for the punch line. Your single biggest investment mistake is owning any actively managed funds. That’s where the fund manager, through stock picking and market timing, attempts to beat the returns of a…
All performance-based advertising should be banned. Your telephone rings. The call is from an executive recruiter. She has some really good news. You are being offered a position as the fund manager for a large-cap mutual fund. Large-cap stocks are those of companies with a market capitalization value of more than $10 billion. The companies…
Investors are battered daily with an avalanche of financial information. Much of it is wrong. The securities industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually sponsoring all forms of financial media, a great portion of which is little more than an infomercial for its services. The consequence of so much sponsored media content masking as…
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are an interesting group of people. The term typically refers to those born between the early 1980s and 2000. The general perception of this generation is mixed. Some articles portray them as selfish, lazy and entitled. Others report they have a community spirit. A study published in 2012 in…