Bill Kaiser explores some financial tasks to consider before sending your child off to college. Bill Kaiser, Wealth Advisor, Bland Garvey Wealth Advisors As the high school graduation parties wind down and your child begins counting up their gift money, now is the time to get a few things in order before they head off…
Larry Swedroe breaks down Europe’s SPIVA results to show active strategies aren’t likely to outperform. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Earlier this week, I provided some highlights of from the S&P Dow Jones Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) 2016 U.S. Scorecard. Today we’ll look at the SPIVA Europe Scorecard, which compares the performance of actively…
Larry Swedroe reviews how hedge funds have performed through the first quarter of 2017. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Hedge funds entered 2017 coming off their eighth-straight year of trailing U.S. stocks (as measured by the S&P 500 Index) by significant margins. And for the 10-year period ending 2016—one that included the…
Larry Swedroe breaks down SPIVA Scorecard to show failure of active management’s ability to generate alpha. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Since 2002, S&P Dow Jones Indices has published its S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) Scorecards, which compare the performance of actively managed equity funds to their appropriate index benchmarks. For the…
Larry Swedroe recommends two new books for the average investor. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance There are few things I enjoy as much as reading the latest information that’s shared in the world of finance. Recently, I read two new books that I recommend to those who share my love of financial…
Larry Swedroe continues the case against active share as a source of meaningful outperformance. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Active share is hailed by some to be the holy grail in terms of its ability to identify future fund performance. My posts of April 24 and April 26 presented the evidence demonstrating that active share is…
5 things to do to make sure your life insurance planning is on track. Tim Maurer, Director of Personal Finance, The BAM Alliance So much of the maintenance of our personal finances falls into the category of “boring, but important.” But when it comes to life insurance, our subconscious resistance to the topic is further…
Tim Maurer on why millennials should consider funding a Roth IRA. Much—too much—has been said and written about the relative superiority of Roth IRAs versus Traditional IRAs. The debate over which is better too often involves the technical numerical merits. In truth, the Roth wins in almost every situation because of its massive behavioral advantage: a…
Larry Swedroe on the importance of integrating all risks (not only the investment kind) into an overall financial plan. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM ALLIANCE Harry Markowitz received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990 for his contributions to the body of work known as “modern portfolio theory.” Probably his greatest contribution…
A sound investment plan isn’t the only way to find financial security. Earlier this week, we looked at the importance of incorporating different types of risk—specifically, human capital risk—into an overall financial plan. Today I will focus on mortality and longevity risk, and using “tax alpha” strategies to improve the odds of achieving your financial goals….
Larry Swedroe on how the risk of private equity doesn’t always equal higher returns. The term “private equity” is used to describe various types (e.g., buyout funds and venture capital funds) of privately placed (nonpublicly traded) investments. Even though buyout (BO) funds and venture capital (VC) funds have similar organizational and compensation structures, they are…
Helping aging parents with their finances. Role reversal: If you have aging parents, they may need help sorting out their finances. Stuart Vick Smith lays out some steps you can take to help them feel in control of their financial life. Find it on KVUE.com By clicking on any of the links above, you acknowledge…
Larry Swedroe shows that book-to-market isn’t the only criteria for defining the value factor. Eugene Fama and Kenneth French’s 1992 paper, “The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns,” resulted in the development of the Fama–French three-factor model. This model added the size and value factors to the market beta factor. As my co-author, Andrew Berkin, and…
Larry Swedroe on how a systematic approach can help mitigate the problem. The typical hedge fund fee structure includes a management fee, calculated as a fixed percentage of a fund’s net asset value, plus an incentive fee, calculated as a percentage of its trading profits. Some hedge funds use both hurdle rates and a high-water-mark…
Larry Swedroe reviews the evidence on how political biases can affect your investing. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light,…
