You need to get paid to invest in this market. My favorite form of payment for you is dividends. A lot of good things come from a sound, dividend-centric approach. First, your interests are in alignment with the company—it must pay you, the investor, for buying the stock. Second, there’s a safety net of sorts since the company has to have some cash to pay you that dividend. And third the best dividend payers have a history of consistently increasing their dividend. But maybe the most important reason is that dividend payers tend to have a long track record of being in business through more … [Read more...]
The Monday Melee: Risk Off
Risk Off: Russia Even though Canada, Norway and Russia are all major petroleum exporters, Russia's ruble is getting hammered compared to the Norwegian krone and the Canadian dollar. The ruble isn't just reacting to oil, it’s reacting to Russia's perceived risk in general. Canada and Norway have low risk, stable governments and strong rule of law. Look at the resilience of their currencies in the face of a strengthening dollar and falling oil prices. Swiss to Buy Gold? Quotable: “A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is not what it is built for.” ― Albert … [Read more...]
Oil Still Expensive in Real Terms
While oil prices have been dropping fast, in real terms prices are still well above their long-term averages. … [Read more...]
Happy Thanksgiving from New Hampshire!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wisdom from a Market Veteran
Below are some excerpts from a speech that Bob Rodriguez, the CEO of First Pacific Advisors gave at a recent CFA event. Rodriguez isn’t a household name like Warren Buffet, but he achieved one of the most successful mutual fund records in history. Rodriguez managed the FPA Capital fund from 1984 until 2009. During this period, FPA Capital outperformed various measures of stock market performance by 400 to 600 basis points and was the #1 diversified equity fund for that period. Rodriguez takes a more concentrated approach than is appropriate for many investors, but his insights on investing … [Read more...]
Hedge Funds Go Hunting
Hedge funds are on the hunt for new clients as the WSJ's Wealth Adviser notes here: Hedge funds go mass-market as rich lose interest. For the wealthy and their advisers, “the sex appeal of hedge funds has worn off,” says Pennsylvania-based adviser Douglas Kobak. Because of that, Ben Steverman writes on Bloomberg’s Ventured & Gained blog, the funds have gone “hunting for new, less skeptical customers” by marketing mutual funds marked by “high fees, inconsistent performance and strategies that take a PhD to decipher.” … [Read more...]
The Monday Melee: Turkey Day Edition
On the Road Again Watch out for what promises to be some of the most congested Thanksgiving traffic in years. What We're Reading: How to Decide Whether You Need Rental Car Insurance (lifehacker.com) A Central Bank for the Beltway (The Wall Street Journal) Hiring Good Managers Is Hard? Ha! Try Keeping Them (Research Affiliates) Why there could be life on Venus (Quartz) The Vampire Squid (aka Goldman) strikes again. This time in commodities. (CNN Money) Clueless when it comes to good wine? There's now an app for that. (CNN Money) What the ‘Inequality’ Warriors Really Want (The Wall … [Read more...]
Kill the Squid.
In a 400-page report prepared for a Senate hearing on commodities market rigging, Goldman Sachs (aka the Vampire Squid of Wall Street) was again being accused of questionable business practices. According to the Senate report, Wall Street banks may have manipulated commodities markets raising the costs on consumers. Add this to the long list of Goldman’s other indictments and it becomes clear that it is time for regulators to kill the squid. Goldman should be stripped of its bank holding status and turned back into a pure investment bank. Investors, lenders, and the market can then more … [Read more...]
Year-End Market Update
I was on the phone with a client Wednesday morning when another line lit up indicating someone was being buzzed into my office from the locked foyer area. I was surprised not only to have a visitor but to see that it was my mother. She and my dad just got back from a trip to Europe and I wasn’t expecting to see them until Thanksgiving, which we’ll spend up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She was in town for an appointment and stopped by afterwards and we grabbed some coffee at Starbucks. If you’ve ever been inside our Newport office then you’ll know what my mom is talking about when … [Read more...]
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