Investor

09/18/09 - Investor Behavior Continues to Decimate Long Term Portfolio Returns

The journey from the October 2007 peak in the equity markets to the lows of March 2009 was an emotional rollercoaster for most investors.  The...read more

05/22/09 - The Tuna Fish Factor

When you think of it, stocks are a lot like tuna fish. You buy them today to use sometime in the future. You don't expect to eat it in the store,...read more

12/18/08 - The Stock Market: What Am I Doing Here?

As this is written in December of 2008, the global stock markets are headed for one of their worst years ever. Not the worst, but pretty bad. The...read more

12/01/08 - Finally We Are Addressing the Real Mortgage Issue!!!

The current financial crisis was born out of the real estate bubble that developed after the technology bubble burst from 2000 through 2002....read more

12/01/08 - The Alternative to Business as Usual on Wall Street

Now that Wall Street's giant Investment Banks have proved themselves hopelessly corrupt, colossally incompetent, and spectacularly insolvent it's...read more

11/07/08 - Engine Failure Takeoff Continued

Many of you know that in a previous life I was an Air Force Pilot flying KC-135A Air Refueling Tankers. We all sometimes referred to the KC-135A...read more

05/23/08 - America Checking In: Make Your Own Coffee

The Global Markets have been bouncing around over the last several months causing a lot of uncertainty. Oil is at an all time high ($129 a...read more

03/26/08 - Broken Record

Occasionally I feel like a broken record. I've been in the financial services and investment business for almost 35 years. And while much has...read more

09/07/07 - Dealing With Market Volatility

Occasionally, market volatility rears its ugly head. If your asset allocation is right to meet your unique needs and risk tolerance, you can...read more

07/06/06 - Suspension of Disbelief

  You can't have escaped hearing about hedge funds. Wall Street is gearing up to provide registered product and fund of funds to the middle...read more

03/27/06 - Fire Your Advisor and Hire My Dog!

A prudent man once said, "It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little." [1] The same holds true in the world of...read more

01/17/06 - Top 10 Stupid Investor Tricks

My mom always taught me, “If you don’t have anything good to say then don’t say anything at all”. Sorry mom, but this time I’m not...read more

08/12/04 - Into The Lair of Financial Pornography

Investors get inundated by so much B.S. (that doesn't stand for Bachelor of Science) it's not surprising that most continue to fail miserably....read more

01/09/04 - Have You Learned Your Investment Lessons Yet?

It's baaaccck! Following three years of gut-churning decline, the stock market is in positive territory again, and strong positive territory at...read more

09/05/03 - It Don't Get Much Worse Than This!

The results are in, and they stink! Dalbar's 2003 update of their widely quoted study, "Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior" (QAIB) shows...read more

07/28/03 - Where Are They Now?

I often encounter investors that still believe that the most important criteria for selecting an investment manager is past performance. This can...read more

06/16/03 - Investors Continue to Throw Money Away

Retail investors will overpay an astounding $36 billion this year in mutual fund fees. These are the findings of a study conducted by...read more

05/12/03 - What Motivates Investors?

We are not as rational as we think we are. When it comes to money and investing, people do some pretty strange things. Ever wonder why we do the...read more

05/12/03 - Investment Policy Statement Steers Portfolio Through Volatile Times

Euphoria one moment, panic the next, followed by a heavy dose of indecision. That pretty much describes the roller coaster life of investors...read more

02/18/03 - Dealing with Turmoil

Economic, political and military uncertainty tends to depress market prices. Resolution of the uncertainty  even if events turn out badly  tends...read more

01/10/03 - Fund Manager Of The Year?

Morningstar just announced their list of fund managers of the year, their annual tribute to the inefficient market. Morningstar is dedicated to...read more

10/07/02 - Avoiding Advisor Risk

Market Risk, and Behavior Risk are well known and frequently discussed. But, there is another type of risk that is often overlooked; The Advisor...read more

09/09/02 - Should You Abandon The Stock Market?

It wasn't long ago that investors were lured by the siren song of instant riches in the bull market. Frenzied commentators and investors...read more

07/29/02 - What's an Investor To Do?

Two and a half years into what the Wall Street Journal recently called the worst bear market in fifty years, many investors are rightfully...read more

04/17/02 - Know When to Fold 'Em

Frozen, like a deer in a spotlight. OK, you have done your financial planning, analyzed your existing holdings, and designed an asset allocation...read more

04/16/02 - Dump the Performance Fairy

One of the chief obstacles to becoming an enlightened investor is the belief in a performance fairy. Unlike Tinker Bell, who flew around doing...read more

04/16/02 - Is It Safe To Go Back Into Stocks? Dumb Question, Wrong Answer

As the Dow creeps back toward the 10,000 mark, we are beginning to see and hear the financial press speculating about whether it's safe to go back...read more

04/16/02 - Still Misbehaving

Investor behavior is the single biggest obstacle to achieving acceptable longterm returns. Far too many investors are their own worst enemies....read more

04/16/02 - Investors: Repent & Reform

Evidence keeps piling up that investors are their own worst enemies. Of all the risks that investors face, their own behavior may be the...read more

10/12/01 - The Value Of Market Predictions

I confess. I'm a news junky. My day starts by browsing CNN, CNNfn, AP, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Miami Herald, and Washington...read more

09/10/01 - Hazardous To Your Wealth

Benjamin Graham was right : Investors are their own worst enemies. It's no great secret that investors generally achieve disappointing...read more

08/09/01 - A Trip Down Memory Lane

Part one It's hard to go back in time. But, if an investor could, this is what it might have looked like. For the sake of today's exercise we...read more

08/03/01 - Lessons Learned in 2000

My mom always told me that in every painful experience there lies a very powerful lesson.  Same theory holds true in the world of investing. ...read more

08/03/01 - The Fog of War

The fog of war. Back in my Air Force days in Vietnam, whenever the aircrews questioned a particularly inane operation, the Brass always accused us...read more