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The Dangers of Putting Our Faith in Statistics
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. Statistics is about trying to figure out the unknown based on what we have seen in the past. It’s…
Read MoreReview: Are thematic ETFs gimmicks or smart strategic plays?
Investment companies are incredibly creative, especially when it comes to new ways to make money. There’s always some new investment trend, and investment companies are more than happy to oblige. They don’t really care if something is a particularly good idea – they just want to help you, the investor. And obviously they should be compensated…
Read MoreReview: Which of these 6 paths will you take in retirement?
As this article makes clear, everyone wants something different out of retirement. Figuring out exactly what you want can be incredibly difficult, but it’s one of the most important things you can do when preparing for retirement. Your retirement income plan should be built around providing you the income to do what you want in…
Read MoreWhich Makes More Sense for Retirees: A Total-Return or Income Portfolio?
Total-return investing focuses on building diversified portfolios from stocks and bonds to seek greater long-term investment growth. By focusing on total return, the objective over the long run is to produce a greater and steadier amount of income relative to what could be obtained by investing for income by focusing solely on interest and dividends to…
Read MoreOccam’s Razor: One of the Most Successful Active Managers of All Time Shows Why Active Management Doesn’t Work
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…
Read More2017 – Q1 Quarterly Market Review
This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the last quarter. It begins with a global overview, then features the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the performance of globally diversified portfolios and features a topic of the quarter.…
Read MoreIndexes 101, Part 3: The Birth and Evolution of Index Investing
According to legend, a pharmacist by the name of John Pemberton was looking for a cure for the headache when he first tried blending Coca leaves with Cola nuts. Pemberton couldn’t have known this recipe would eventually reach the heights of fame, even though Coca-Cola® never ended up achieving his original goal. This story…
Read More4 Ways to Manage Sequence of Returns Risk in Retirement
Sequence of returns risk, or sequence risk for short, is the risk that you will need to take distributions from your investment portfolio when the market has recently declined. Taking distributions when the market has gone down effectively “costs” more than at other points in time because you are forced to sell your investments at…
Read MoreReview: Investors flock to ‘macro’ hedge funds, but not only the old guard
Looks like certain hedge funds are back in style now. With the constant conveyor belt of hot new investments, as soon as something starts to lose its luster, there’s always something ready to take its place. This time, at least according to the article, it’s macro hedge funds. Macro hedge funds are basically hedge funds that…
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