Academy Login

A Vanishing Value Premium?

Value stocks underperformed growth stocks by a material margin in the US last year. However, the magnitude and duration of the recent negative value premium are not unprecedented.

Total Return vs Income Investing: Same, but Different

Retirees can take 2 main approaches to spending from portfolios. 1) Focus on income and dividends produced in the portfolio, a.k.a. “income investing.” 2) Sell assets as appropriate to meet spending needs. For your portfolio, they’re basically the same thing. But, from your point of view, you should be aware of one difference: focusing on income investing can make your portfolio less diversified.

Bucket of Cold Water Dumped on this Investing Strategy

Poor Greece. Not even the Greek alphabet has been given safe quarter these past weeks. Perhaps it is the ever increasing popularity of ETF strategies and the continuing underwhelming performance of active managers, but one thing is clear if you are trying to sell an investment product: it is best to couch it as an […]

How to View Social Security vs. a Long-Term Stock Portfolio

MarketWatch columnist and colleague Robert Powell recently shared an intriguing question with me from one of his readers on the merits of the Social Security retirement payout versus the returns on a conservative, long-term stock portfolio.

Why the Dow Doesn’t Work

With Apple’s addition to the Dow (or more properly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average), now is a great opportunity to look at how to think about the Dow, and indices more broadly. Indices are great tools for understanding what is going on in the markets, but you need to understand what to do with those […]