In last week’s post I talked about a new fund – QSPIX from AQR. It is a long/short fund that seeks to capture four style premiums across multiple asset classes and countries. Since the return of this fund is derived from sources different from...
Read moreIs This New Mutual Fund A Game Changer? Part 1
I spend a lot of my time reading new research papers and evaluating new investment products. 99% of new investment products fail to meet my high bar as something I will put my client’s money in. My due diligence process is very thorough. It...
Read moreBond Funds vs. Individual Bonds…Please Stop Driving Me Crazy
I generally try to avoid watching CNBC and other 24-hour financial networks. It seems to me that since they’re forced to fill hours of airtime with something, they often air useless, inaccurate information and have uninformed guests...
Read moreHumans Being Human
Along with Gene Fama and Lars Hanson, Robert Shiller was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his impressive contribution to the understanding of asset prices. His biggest contributions are in the area of behavioral finance...
Read moreThe Importance of Rebalancing
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9FIgT-DYOw&w=420&h=315] The idea of rebalancing may seem counter intuitive to most people. Basically it means selling the parts of the portfolio that have been doing the best and buying the ones...
Read moreGene Fama Wins The Nobel Prize In Economic Sciences
If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I frame my investment philosophy around research performed by academia. Gene Fama’s research has definitely influenced the way I think about markets more than any other academic. He shares the...
Read moreMore About Mortgages And The Math of Bonds
In last week’s post we looked at some of the pros and cons of paying off your mortgage (most of them were pros). An argument for not paying off your mortgage was that if interest rates rise you may eventually be in a positive arbitrage position –...
Read moreMore About Style Premium Diversification
Last week I posted an article about incorporating style premiums into a portfolio and how it will increase efficiency (higher return per unit of risk). Some readers had some questions that I will address today. The first question: when looking at...
Read moreDiversifying Across Style Premiums
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LulZmlR5Gc&w=420&h=315] Diversifying your portfolio across asset classes is well known to increase the return of a portfolio while reducing risk. Today we will talk about another way to diversify a...
Read moreCan You Time The Market?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Jdh73DCI0&w=420&h=315] It is a very tempting proposition. All you have to do is get out of the market when it is at its highs and jump back in after it tanks. It sounds simple enough and has...
Read moreWhat is Better, Saving More Or Getting Higher Returns?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpvtSHjKIi8&w=560&h=315] In a previous post we looked at a simple compounding interest example. It showed that if you start saving early in your life you can end up with more money in retirement...
Read moreWhen Should I Take Social Security?
Deciding when to take social security is a big decision for someone about to retire. Most people realize that they can take social security as early as age 62; however, their annual ongoing benefit may vary by up to 30% depending on when they...
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