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Monthly Archives: January 2012
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
The financial media was all atwitter when Standard and Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of nine European countries on Jan. 13, 2012. France and Austria lost their triple-A rating. CNBC’s reaction was typical. It described this event as “a Black … Continue reading
Posted in 401(k) Retirement
Tagged Dan Solin, huffington post, investing
The Hedge Fund Mirage: The Illusion of Big Money and Why It’s Too Good to Be True (a new book by Simon Lack)
The Hedge Fund Mirage is a tell-all expose of the $1.6 trillion hedge fund industry and how poorly served its investors have been. A true industry insider, Simon Lack spent 23 years with JPMorgan where he played a large part … Continue reading
Posted in investing
Two Contrasting Views of Stock Markets
“The casino view sees the stock market as largely a place where investors place bets on the near future prices of stocks rather than on the numbers on a roulette wheel or the spots on a pack of cards. The … Continue reading
Posted in investing
When Risk Is Sovereign II
Jim Parker Vice President Dimensional Fund Advisors Standard & Poor’s recent credit rating downgrade of nine Eurozone nations may have been treated as a big deal by the media, but for financial markets, the “news” was already in the … Continue reading
Posted in investing
Dirty Tricks Brokers Use to Get Your Business
Brokers and advisors like to describe their activities in terms indicating the benefits they bestow upon their clients. “Wealth manager” is one of my favorites, because it conveys the impression that using them is likely to increase your wealth. Using … Continue reading
Posted in 401(k) Retirement
Tagged Dan Solin, huffington post, investing
The Right Focus Can Improve Your 2012 Returns
Many investors will focus on the wrong ball when making investment decisions for the New Year. For these investors, the light at the end of the tunnel could be a freight train. The international and domestic stock markets were negative … Continue reading
Posted in investing
Embrace Uncertainty
I hear a lot of concern about uncertainty in the market. This is understandable. Our domestic economy remains on thin ice, with dangerously high unemployment and record deficits. The recovery is agonizingly slow. The situation in Europe is even more … Continue reading
Posted in investing
Problems with Private Equity Performance
Index Funds Advisors, Inc. (IFA) recently completed an analysis of the performance of state retirement pension plans which showed that all of them would have fared better with a portfolio of index funds such as the ones offered by IFA. … Continue reading
Posted in investing
Politics and Investing: A Deadly Mix
The views of the Republicans running for office are getting a lot of air time. Whatever the relative merits of these candidates, investors might be misled by some of the spirited dialogue. Two issues stand out as having the potential … Continue reading
Posted in 401(k) Retirement
Tagged Dan Solin, huffington post, investing
Tilting Towards Small Cap Stocks: Is It Still Worthwhile?
This past year was a difficult one for small cap stocks across all geographic regions, as shown in the table below: Of the three equity risk premiums identified by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French1, the size premium is the smallest, … Continue reading
Posted in investing
