Insights
Behavioral economics is a well researched field of study and one we find important as it pertains to acting as a fiduciary and a steward of capital. In this newsletter, we reflect on recent research into this topic and attempt to blend it with recent market actions hitting the globe
Insights
Determining the characteristics of superior investing is not a new idea. We hazard a guess that since the first dollar went into the public markets, individuals have spent considerable effort determining short cuts and tricks to identify the items that drive outperformance. Within the modern investment world, both academic and
Insights
"Equity investing is about what could happen, not what has" - Michael Goldstein We have highlighted on many occasions the three facets of investing that most impact performance: market participation, asset allocation, and cost. We can further segment costs into three areas: * Direct costs of management fees and investment
Insights
"A person saving for retirement who chooses low-cost investments could have a standard of living throughout retirement more than 20% higher than that of a comparable investor in high-cost investments." - William Sharpe Mutual funds that rely on stock-based investing where once a great idea. However,
Insights
"And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws." - Where the Wild Things Are Inflation, and our fear of it, is a highly debated topic these days. It is worthy of attention given the
Insights
"The boiling frog story is a wide spread anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the
Insights
Interviewer: "if you were to be stranded on an island and could have three people join you, who would they be?" (Expecting the answer to include one or more of George Washington, Albert Einstein, Great Grandfather, Barack Obama, Francis Bacon or the Dalai Lama) Lengthy Pause. Interviewee: "
Insights
"An approximate answer to the right problem is worth a good deal more than an exact answer to an approximate problem."-- John Tukey Most financial professionals preach the positives of diversification. They promote it as much for risk mitigation as they do for obtaining superior returns. During prior
Insights
The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. - Leonardo da Vinci What better idea than to bring up the Seven Deadly Sins during the holidays? In our constant need to Google everything, absorbing as much data as possible, we came across this graphic created by a Jennifer Hagey.
Insights
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" One quote, two stories, and then the point to this newletter. This quote from Sir Francis Bacon sticks in our minds a lot these days. It fits so many situations as we see numerous examples of people putting their intentions before
Insights
"Half a century of analysis has yet to fully answer why investors place such a large proportion of their funds with active equity managers, given the discouraging evidence on the latter's ability to add net value" * Rotman International Journal of Pension Management With this being our
Research
There comes a time when it is important to step back and take a deeper look at the fundamentals of a company or industry rather than just bask in the glow of its historical stock performance. For Utilities, now is that time. With the XLU nearing all time highs, holding
