In the last couple months I have flown with three different people who were considering putting large amounts of money into a structured product. One was an Equity Indexed Annuity with an insurance company, another was a Structured Bond with a...
Read moreMore About Sequences of Returns
Author’s note: As some of my readers have pointed out, I have not written an article in a while. I have been busy with some new clients and other things, but mostly it is about getting out of the routine of writing these posts. Hopefully there...
Read moreMore About Delta’s Retirement Plan
I received many responses from my last post about how Delta Pilots’ new Defined Contribution (DC) plan stacks up against the old Defined Benefit (DB) plan. First, I would like to thank each of you who responded. I appreciate that you took the...
Read moreFun with Numbers: How Does Delta’s New Pension Plan Stack Up Against the Old One?
With contract openers being exchanged in the near future, everyone seems to be talking about what we Delta pilots should be getting in our next contract. Everyone has their areas they would like to see improved. Pay, scope and retirement seem to...
Read moreIs It Time To Give Up On The Global Portfolio?
This chart says it all for some...
Read moreAn Introduction To Risk Parity Portfolios
If you are a regular reader of my newsletter you know that I try to build portfolios that gain exposure to sources other than traditional stock and bond returns. If fact, I believe that most people’s portfolios are dominated by one single source...
Read moreAQR Capital Management’s Style Premium Fund One Year Later
Last November AQR Capital Management launched a new fund – QSPIX. This fund seeks to capture four specific style premiums while maintaining a stock market neutral position. Last year I wrote two articles about this fund. You can find those...
Read moreNew IRS Rule Makes After Tax 401K Contributions a Better Deal
Last week the IRS issued IRS Notice 2014-54. After years of fighting taxpayers about certain types of IRA rollovers they finally gave in. Today we will discuss what led to this rule change and how it might affect your retirement savings.
Read moreAre Market Valuations Valuable?
There is a lot of talk lately about whether or not the stock market is overvalued, undervalued or fairly valued. There are many different methods for determining whether a stock (or the whole market) is fairly priced based on some fundamental...
Read moreShould You Consider Structured Products?
Everyone likes the potential returns of stock. I mean who wouldn’t like the chance to gain 10% per year or more. The downside, on the other hand, could mean large losses. If there was only a way to gain the upside potential of stocks without...
Read moreUnderstanding the AMT
Over the last couple months I have flown with many people who were angry about their high tax bill. Two things they all had in common are that they hated the additional AMT tax, and they didn’t understand it very well. Today I will try to...
Read moreThe Fallacy of Time Diversification: Part 3
In my last two posts I made arguments against the idea that time diversifies a portfolio. This goes against the conventional wisdom that if you hold risky assets, like stocks, for long enough you are sure to get the good returns you are hoping...
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