Congress Unites to Harm Investors
Who said Congress is dysfunctional? When necessary, its members can come together quite seamlessly. Recently, a group of elected officials, one that crossed party lines, launched an effort with apparently one goal in mind. If you think I am referring...
Does Greece Matter? The Bigger Picture For You And Your Portfolio
“Greece is a tiny player in global capital markets. Its default is 100% certain,” says Larry Swedroe, Director of Research for The BAM ALLIANCE and the author of 14 books on investing, including his most recent, The Incredible Shrinking Alpha,...
What Mountain Climbing Can Teach You About Business
When we think of mountain climbing, we tend to think of Mount Everest and big groups of people climbing in long lines. Armies of Sherpas create base camps and ferry supplies and gear up and down the mountain. Miles of...
Fiduciary Rule: The Real Agenda
There’s a powerful agenda behind the opposition to the rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) requiring that advisors to retirement plans be fiduciaries: The securities industry wants to preserve its ability to give conflicted advice. There’s a...
The Short Stories We Tell Ourselves About Everyday Spending
I love a good story. In fact, I used to tell myself at least one new story every time I opened my credit card statement. “Oh,” I’d say to myself, “I was so busy last month, it makes perfect sense...
Venture Capital ‘Hits’ Driven By Skill
There’s a large body of sound, academic evidence (which is presented in my books, “The Only Guide to Alternative Investments You’ll Ever Need” and “The Quest for Alpha”) demonstrating that, in aggregate, private equity investments have represented the triumph of...
Your Spending Choices Often Reflect Your Values
I have a crazy idea I want to run by you. Imagine that a cultural anthropologist finds one of your credit card statements in 100 years. What would your spending suggest you value the most? Based on your spending, what...
Reputation And Venture Capital
Last week, we recapped some of the more recent literature on the performance of private equity, and venture capital (VC) in particular. The cumulative body of evidence, we found, was damning with regard to venture capital’s ability to provide better...
2015’s ‘Sure Things’ At Halftime
Every January, I put together a list of predictions that financial “gurus” have made for the upcoming year, especially the ones that gain consensus as “sure things.” Through a series of periodic updates, I keep track of whether these “sure...
Budgeting Knows No Boundaries: A Guide for the Wealthy
“You don’t really do this stuff—do you?” The question came from a major network anchor after the camera stopped rolling. The topic was budgeting. He certainly isn’t obtuse, and he wasn’t being patronizing or condescending. It was a legitimate question...
