Bob French, CFA

Inflation is one of the most serious risks that retirees face. While there are a lot of ways to mitigate inflation risk, TIPS, or Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, are one of the few investment options that directly hedge against inflation risk. They aren’t perfect, and there are certainly some things to consider when you use…

Most people try to avoid thinking about statistics, but they’re part of everything we do in investing. When other people get around to thinking about statistics, they often end up thinking about them the wrong way. Most people assume the most important numbers of any data set are the average, median, and standard deviation, and…

WHAT IS OCCAM’S RAZOR? Occam’s Razor is a principle attributed to William Occam, a 14th century philosopher. He stressed that explanations must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary. Thus, Occam’s Razor is a term used to “shave off” or dismiss superfluous explanations for a given event. This concept is largely ignored within the investment management landscape. This newsletter…

We use models all the time. We are constantly making decisions based on them – everything from simple heuristics (nachos taste good) all the way up to (and including) quantum mechanics. They’re great tools for helping us understand and make sense of the world. But it’s important to understand their limitations and the dangers of…