Lowell Herr | ITA Wealth Management

Risk Parity: A Brief Explanation of How Risky a 60/40 Portfolio Really Is

June 13, 2014 By Lowell Herr

This is a follow-up to the HedgeHunter Risk Parity (RP) post. This blog post will give readers an overview of how RP is calculated. This not for the mathematically squeamish, but the concept is not difficult if

Music of Alison Krauss

May 25, 2014 By Lowell Herr

Instead of recommending a particular CD, this week I focus on the artist, Alison Krauss. As a late bloomer when it comes to many genres of music, I first heard Ms. Krauss in a few songs from the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

What the Experts Say About Index Investing

May 2, 2014 By Lowell Herr

Perusing the Bogleheads web site, I found this long list of quotes from well known investment writers and managers. Here is what they have to say about index investing. These bits of wisdom further explain why I favor tilting investments toward non-managed index vehicles. Further, I

The High Cost of Fees

April 21, 2014 By Lowell Herr

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

Bach’s St. John Passion

April 20, 2014 By Lowell Herr

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.

Seven Last Words of Christ: Theodore Dubois

April 18, 2014 By Lowell Herr

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

Charles Ellis: Loser’s Game of Stock Picking

April 16, 2014 By Lowell Herr

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

April 15, 2014 By Lowell Herr

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