Market forecasters capitalize on our desire to know the unknowable. Tim Maurer, Director of Personal Finance, The BAM Alliance Just for fun, Google the words “market pullback.” There are over 2.2 million results–most of them market predictions–and the first page of results is dominated by calls for an imminent market reversal that the simple desk…
New research shows that “portfolio pumping” still occurs at mutual fund families. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Portfolio pumping—also known as “painting the tape” or “leaning for the tape”—is a market-manipulative strategy that mutual fund and hedge fund managers use to mark up their holdings at the end of the quarter by…
Larry Swedroe unpacks the data in his latest review of hedge funds’ lagging performance. 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…
How will you spend your tolerance for risk? Tim Maurer, Director of Personal Finance, The BAM Alliance “I just really wish I’d taken more risk in my investment portfolio,” said no one–ever–on their deathbed. That may seem like an odd observation, unless you consider the fact that I had the privilege of spending a couple…
Larry Swedroe looks at new data on active funds’ persistent underperformance. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Each year, Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) analyzes the returns from a large sample of U.S.-based mutual funds. And each year, the results are basically the same, with the evidence showing a large majority of fund managers…
Outperforming active funds rarely manage to repeat their success. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Since 2002, S&P Dow Jones Indices has published its biannual S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) scorecards, which compare the performance of actively managed equity funds to their appropriate index benchmarks. Its midyear reports focus on the question of…
Larry Swedroe explains how to build a successful family wealth transfer plan. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Prepare your assets for transition to your heirs, but also prepare your heirs to receive your assets. Larry Swedroe explains why the success of an estate plan may depend on preparing families for the transfer…
Hope vs. wisdom and investors’ failure to diversify. Larry Swedroe, Director of Research, The BAM Alliance Individual stock ownership offers both the hope of great returns (finding the next Google, for instance) and the potential for disastrous results (ending up with the next Lehman). Because investors are not compensated for taking the risk that their…
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 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…
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…
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…
