October 16, 2019
October 11, 2019
Advisors Need to Bring Clients’ Kids into the Conversation
Parents are looking for guidance on how to talk to their children about money. Retirement Director Ben Rizzuto explains how advisors can address this need while establishing themselves as the family’s primary wealth manager – all without putting their other client relationships at risk.
October 10, 2019
Investment Banks Want to Sell Research to Corporates but They Face a Changing Market
Investment banks provided a range of services to their buy-side clients, bundling a bunch of those services together (investment research included), and pocketing some tidy sums in commission fees. They certainly didn’t have to worry about selling sell-side research separately, much less look for new clients, like corporates – which is what they are doing now.
October 10, 2019
Going Global
The global investment grade credit universe (GIGC) far exceeds local submarkets in size and scope and a GIGC strategy may unlock value through diversification and currency inefficiencies.
October 8, 2019
Three Ways Investing Is Like Baseball
Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball is famous for statistical analysis, and there are seemingly endless ways to evaluate every player. Similarly, there are many ways to evaluate stocks, and different portfolio managers assemble their “teams” using a variety of methods. To understand the differences, consider the ways that coaches can choose players for a baseball team.
October 8, 2019
The Rising Bar for Active Management
October 7, 2019
Advanced TWS Trading Tools
October 4, 2019
Currency Currents: Outlook, Causality, the Black Swan, and your Edge
The currency equation of expected total return – This equation says the primary rationale for holding a particular currency is to maximize total return, and expected total return is a function of the real yield achieved (nominal interest rates minus the inflation rate) and the future exchange rate (that which we are trying to forecast).
October 3, 2019
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
October 1, 2019
The Smartest Investor Who You’ve Never Heard Of
Michael Burry is the smartest investor you’ve never heard of. Well, I say that. If you saw the movie The Big Short, you’ve heard of him. Burry was the eccentric hedge fund manager played by Christian Bale and one of the select few people that both saw the 2008 mortgage crisis coming and managed to profit from it.
October 1, 2019
Why Use One Value Factor When You Can Use Many
September 27, 2019
What Is Passive Investing?
September 26, 2019
It’s Personal: The Growing Need For Financial Wellness Programs
78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, 43% of student loan borrowers are not making payments and nearly half of all employees can’t cover a $400 emergency. In an effort to help employees understand and improve their personal financial health, many plan sponsors and their advisors are turning to workplace financial wellness programs.
September 24, 2019
ROIC Drivers – a More Rigorous Dupont Analysis
September 24, 2019
Why Return Skewness Offers Some Hope for Value Investors
September 20, 2019
Does It Ever Make Sense to Index Portfolios?
Almost nobody thinks that indexing investment portfolios makes sense. There are a few exceptions. Certain versions of hedge fund indexes exist. Clearly, some people will defend the proposition. However, I have never met any of them, except for Andy Lo in passing. When Bloomberg’s Matt Levine scoffed at indexing hedge funds, he spoke for nearly all investment researchers. Morningstar’s team, for example, is universally skeptical.
September 20, 2019
Why Megatrend ETFs Offer Long-Term Growth Potential
September 18, 2019
Catching Falling Angels: Finding Opportunities in Crossover Credit
September 18, 2019
Assessing The Value Of Advice
In this new paper, Vanguard researchers introduce a three-part framework for measuring the value of financial advice to investors based on portfolio, financial, and emotional outcomes. The paper uses data-driven metrics to illustrate the framework and highlight the breadth of what constitutes value in an advisory relationship.
September 17, 2019
When It Comes To College, Think ‘Savings’ Over ‘Scholarships’
Here’s the reality, parents: While organized sports offer a great way for your child to learn valuable life lessons and develop their skills, they’re far from a scholarship guarantee. To truly set your child up for success, you have to start saving for college as soon as possible — and I believe a 529 plan can help.
September 17, 2019
Never Say Never
September 13, 2019
Growth and Momentum in Market Rotation
September 12, 2019
Portion Control Isn’t Just For Meal Time
What’s this all have to do with investments? There are investing lessons to be learned from portion control and macro-nutrients; macros are the protein, fat and carb building blocks of nutrition. Investors often miss the idea of portion control. We ought to think of our overall investment portfolios in different portion sizes. We ought to be disciplined about the “PPP” too: the portion’s portfolio purpose.
September 12, 2019
Widen Your Competitive Advantage by Narrowing Your Niche
Shaking off complacency takes courage and creativity, often with the rewards seeming like more effort than they’re worth. As you take stock of your client base, it’s easy to focus on quantity rather than quality. For example, I coach an advisor who for the better part of a year had been stuck on one challenge. Every time we had a conversation, he would tell me that while his business was in fine shape overall he felt ambivalent toward a larger number of his clients than he would like.
September 12, 2019
Do Advisors Know What Their Clients Want?
What investors want and what advisors think they want can sometimes differ, so getting everyone on the same page could bode well for your client relationships and practice.
September 12, 2019
Evaluating ETF Model Portfolios: The Dues & Don’ts
I previously wrote “Debunking the Myths of a Model Portfolio Approach,” exposing the difficulties of third-party due diligence as a myth. Let’s prove it by diving deeper into best practices for ETF model portfolio due diligence. Ask the right questions – Starting at the firm level, here are a few questions advisors should ask when evaluating model portfolio providers…
September 11, 2019
Active Investing vs Passive Investing Explained (w/ AK Fallible)
September 11, 2019
How To Beat The Jitters When The Markets Shake
September 10, 2019
