A Book Review

Heh, I was looking at the NYSSA website and stumbled on a book review written in 2011 of Joel Greenblatt’s The Big Secret for the Small Investor and forgot that I wrote the review. Enjoy:

http://post.nyssa.org/nyssa-news/2011/05/book-review-the-big-secret-for-the-small-investor.html

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Joel Greenblatt on Value Investing (Morningstar)

Continue reading
Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tie Yourself to the Mast

Jason Zweig writes an excellent column on tying oneself to the mast (as in the above painting) for financial decision making when the alternative is to rely on willpower alone. Many people believe they can maneuver in choppy markets; fully participate in bull runs and get out before markets turn south. Those who force themselves to stay with a process and a plan usually perform better in the long run.… Continue reading

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Stock Market: Looking in from the Outside

We are nearly halfway through 2013 and the S&P 500 Total Return Index is on pace to deliver a return of over 47% for the year. In the last 188 years of stock market activity, the market delivered an annual return of over 40% just ten times. The last time it did so was 1958 and it is interesting that 1928 was one of the ten years.

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

John Rogers Discusses Investors’ Rights

The CEO of the CFA Institute discusses investors’ rights with the Wall Street Journal… Continue reading

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How Safe are the Assets that You Trusted to Your Custodian? Jason Zweig

I am a risk manager and credit analyst by training (actually, I think I was born that way), so when I created my hedge fund over three years ago, one of the first questions I asked the partner of (large, well-respected hedge fund) law firm who drafted my fund’s foundational documents was: “What happens if (very large, well-respected, money center bank) goes under? What assurances do I have that my investors… Continue reading

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Howard Marks in Barrons. Is a Retraction/Correction Coming?

I do not think that Barron’s front page headline in this week’s magazine accurately reflects Howard Marks’ thinking.

Marks’ latest full-length memo (he is famous for his memos) seems to be a LOT more cautious and a LOT less sanguine about markets, especially debt markets, than the above headline. That memo, published on January 7, 2013, is titled… Continue reading

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wisdom from Jean-Marie Eveillard (and Seth Klarman)

JME reflects on a conversation he had with Seth Klarman at a wedding. I love that he uses the term “genuine” value investors to distinguish them from the imposters. I have been using the term “true” value investors, but I may switch (and, yes, there are many imposters).… Continue reading

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jason Zweig’s Intelligent Investor Column on Novy-Marx’s Quality Formula

Jason is a favorite columnist of mine in part because of his affinity to Ben Graham and value investing, and in part because he is a great guy. His Saturday column, The Intelligent Investor, named after the Graham book that Buffett says changed his professional life, is must reading. But, Jason is a bigger fan of indexing than I am, so it is interesting that his latest column… Continue reading

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Equity Market Annual Return Histogram Updated for 2012

Better late than never. I have updated the equity market annual return histogram for the 16.00% total return generated by the S&P 500 index in 2012.

As Michael Mauboussin says, when understanding an investment idea, we should try take an outsider’s big-picture view in addition to our own expert view of the minutiae of the idea. I first came across the equity market return histogram a few… Continue reading

Share
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment