How Well Did You Predict 2016?

How Well Did You Predict 2016?

Now that the year is almost behind us, let’s turn to my favorite topic, predicting the future.  As usual, there were a number of events that occurred at various times during the year, the results of which (1) were completely missed by the media and (2) went totally counter to investor expectations.  In case you’ve…
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Setting Expectations In The Absence Of Facts

Now that 2016 is nearly behind us, investors’ thoughts naturally turn to 2017.  What return should I expect from my investments next year?  The great difficulty in answering that question is that we have limited facts to guide us.  Sure, there is a plethora of historical data, as well as economists and media pundits who…
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There’s Nothing Smart About Smart Beta (Part 2)

In my previous post on this topic I explained what beta is, since understanding it is integral to understanding the marketing concept known as smart beta.  In this post I’ll address smart beta and whether or not it’s worth allocating your investment dollars to ETFs that utilize it. The concept is fairly simple to explain. …
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There’s Nothing Smart About Smart Beta (Part 1)

I’m not a big fan of marketing terms created for the sole purpose of making products sound better than they are.  And when investment or insurance companies do this for financial products it really gets me going.  One term that’s getting a lot of mileage right now is “Smart Beta,” commonly applied to certain exchange…
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What Will The Stock Market Do Now?

Now that the presidential election is behind us, many Clinton supporters have threatened to pull all their money out of the U.S. stock market and leave the country.  Should we sell all our stocks now before the mass exodus starts? This analysis of course comes under the category of predicting the future, and my readers…
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The Essence of Democracy

My readers know that I never write about politics.  However, having just lived through the most polarizing and divisive election in my lifetime, I felt an obligation to address this subject, since the actions of our elected officials can have a major impact on everyone’s financial future.   So I’m taking the liberty of providing advice…
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