Insights

The American Funds Advantage?

I was forwarded an article that American Funds published touting the superiority of its funds relative to index strategies. The piece contains statements like this: “Some investment managers, American Funds among them, have distinguished themselves with a proven track record of consistently outpacing broad market returns.” And other fabulous statements like this: “Obviously, some are…

Know-Nothing Investors Outperform Know-Somethings

All but the most diehard proponents of the efficient-markets hypothesis accept the fact that with valuable inside information, one can earn abnormal returns. That leaves this question: Does access to information that is publicly available provide investors with a sufficient advantage to outperform appropriate risk-adjusted benchmarks (generate alpha)? In other words, is the quantity and…

In Context Newsletter – Fall 2013

The third quarter certainly had its fair share of stress for investors. As the quarter came to a close, it was clear the federal government would undergo a partial shutdown on October 1. As if that was not enough, the debt ceiling deadline loomed. There was concern the federal government might default on Treasury bond principal and interest payments or other financial commitments if Congress and the White House failed to act before October 17…