The Problems with Indexing
Index funds dominate the passive management landscape (though they are not the entirety). But just because there’s no way to guess which active managers will do well in the future doesn’t mean index funds don’t have problems themselves.
5 Companies Comprise One-Third of S&P 500 Returns – Is This the Death of Diversification?
Everyone is always eager to declare the death of diversification. They say it fails in a crisis, that correlations are going up throughout the markets, or that building a diversified portfolio is just too dang time-consuming and expensive (seriously). Now people are ringing the same death knell because so much of the market’s returns are […]
One of the Most Successful Active Managers of all Time Shows Why Active Management Doesn’t Work
The appeal of market timing is obvious. Who wouldn’t want to get in and out of the market at the best time every time? We’ve talked a lot about market timing in the past – timing risk premiums, trying to time the markets on a daily basis, and the importance of staying disciplined even when it seems obvious the markets are going to go down.
What is a Bond Ladder?
Bond ladders sound like another complicated finance concept only investing geeks understand, but they’re actually pretty simple. The easiest way to view them is as though you’re setting up your own annuity by prepaying for at least some of your income in retirement.
Finding the Right Balance Between Inflation Risk and Investment Risk
When we talk about retirement risks, people often tend to fixate on their investments. Yes, investment risk is important, but it’s only a piece of the puzzle. The primary risk to your retirement is not having enough money to do what you want. Like I said, investment risk certainly plays into this, but you need […]
Can You Rely On Dividends For Income?
There’s real value in knowing where your money will come from. Hence the appeal of income investing – building a portfolio focused on creating a long-term steady stream of income…But income investing presents a few problems.
Can You Time Risk Premiums?
No one really likes risk. We all can deal with it, but that doesn’t mean we want to. Yes, there are people who live to jump out of airplanes and walk on tight ropes with no net, but I’m talking about financial risk. Unfortunately, at least in investing, risk and return are tightly intertwined. If […]
Should You Keep International Stocks in Your Portfolio?
There will always be some asset class that does poorly. Over the last few years, one of those asset classes has been international stocks. They have underperformed US stocks each of the previous three years, and it’s looking like they’ll do it again this year. Given this underperformance, we’ve had some people ask why we […]
Should You Add Real Estate to Your Portfolio?
We talk a lot about stocks and bonds, but we spend less time on hard assets like commodities or real estate. Investing in real estate is very similar to investing in stocks, so it requires many of the same principles as any other asset class, just with a little twist.
Should Your Portfolio Include Commodities?
When it comes to investing, a whole bunch of magical investment solutions seem to be floating around out there, but should you really do anything differently?
