High fees are to be avoided, particularly management fees. Readers of ITA Wealth Management are well aware of my propensity to keep fees to a minimum and that is why I place so much emphasis on using commission free ETFs. While most of you are managing your own money, there may be new readers of […]
Archives for April 2014
Bach’s St. John Passion
While Bach is well known for his St. Matthew Passion music, in some ways I prefer his St. John Passion compositions so here is my recommendation for the week. I usually include a review from Amazon as most reviewers have a better knowledge of music than I do. “I resisted buying and then listening […]
Seven Last Words of Christ: Theodore Dubois
Of the two recordings I have of “The Seven Last Words of Christ,” one by Dubois and one by Haydn, the composition by Dubois is by far my favorite. The purity of “Christ We Do All Adore Thee” is well worth the price of this CD. The accompaniment is organ and I would prefer a […]
Charles Ellis: Loser’s Game of Stock Picking
Let’s revisit Charles D. Ellis’ 1995 paper, “The Loser’s Game,” where he describes his Break-Even Return (BER) equation. Here is a review of this equation. BER = [(Turnover percentage x Transaction Cost) + Management Fee + Target Return]/Market Return It is quite easy to set up this equation in an Excel spreadsheet and play around […]
ITARR: How To Reduce Losses
Zion National Park On page 167 of Mebane T. Faber and Eric W. Richardson’s book, “The Ivy Portfolio: How to Invest Like the Top Endowments and Avoid Bear Markets” we read, “Our research has shown that returns are lower and volatility is higher when asset classes are below the 10-month moving average.” What investor is […]
Portfolio Requirements: Basic Ideas For Construction
Basic portfolio construction requires that long-term goals include diversification, a risk reduction model, and equity orientation. Here is how I outline the thinking process when putting together a portfolio of securities. Think diversification through asset allocation. Each asset class included in the Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) plan should hold a target percentage that makes it […]
Looking for Signs of Weakness in the Markets
Even though some of us may have been wary of the continuing strength of the markets for a few months now, over the past week, we may have been getting the feeling that some signs of weakness are beginning to show in the markets. In a standard margin account we could consider shorting assets to […]
Keeping It Simple: Building A Basic Portfolio
Having just finished William J. Bernstein’s latest e-Book, simplicity is on my mind. Toward the very end of the book, Bernstein mentions that one can deviate from the three index portfolio by branching out to real estate, TIPs, etc. While the three index mutual funds (VTSMX, VGTSX, and VBMFX) or three index ETFs (VTI, VEA, […]
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