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Charles Ellis: Loser’s Game of Stock Picking

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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

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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

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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

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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 […]

William Bernstein’s Latest E-Book: Getting Rich Slowly

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William Bernstein’s latest e-Book, If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly, is all about regularly investing equal amounts of money using three mutual funds.  Those funds are:  U.S. Total Stock Market, International Total Stock Market, and U.S. Bond Market.  Save 15% of your salary each month, and that is about it.  Bernstein’s recommendations […]

Chopin: 24 Preludes

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There are many Chopin: 24 Preludes to choose from.  Gregory Sokolov is the artist in this particular and most of the cuts I rate as five stars.  Hence my music recommendation for this week.  The following review by Scott Morrison mirrors my reaction to this recording. “Grigory Sokolov is a pianist who just recently ventured […]

The Bells of St. Genevieve and Other Baroque Delights

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The Bells of St. Genevieve and Other Baroque Delights is my classical music recording for the week.  Downloading the MP3 version seems to be the only way to capture this music, but it is worth it.  Below is a positive review from an Amazon reader.  Based on the way I frequently listen to music (one […]

Beginner Advice: Getting Started With Portfolio Construction

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Several days* ago a friend wrote and asked about setting up a portfolio where $500 would be deposited every month.  What advice would I pass on to such an investor?  The first bit of advice is to read all the Beginning Investor and Critical Information posts. These can be found under Categories in the right-hand […]

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