Prospective investors carry too much credit card debt. This mistake is a corollary of Mistake #1. Stay out of credit card (CC) debt. Mistake #2 is not so much an investor mistake, but rather a mistake of bad management as it has nothing to do with managing a portfolio. If one ever aspires to be […]
Portfolio Construction: The Essential Decisions
William J. Bernstein, in his most recent book, “The Investor’s Manifesto” writes, “Before diving into the most important issue faced by any investor–the asset allocation decision–you will need to understand four things: save as much as you can, make sure you have enough liquid taxable assets for emergencies, diversify widely, and do so with passive […]
Retirement Planning Mistake #1
Mistake number one in my book is failure to save or to not follow The Golden Rule of Investing. Open up a spreadsheet and run your own calculations for the following classic comparison. As a nineteen year old you have the foresight and financial opportunity to save $2,000 per year for eight years. After saving […]
Advisors Do Not Add Alpha
ITA Wealth Management is all about learning to manage your own portfolio instead of hiring a professional money manager. Here is added evidence that consultants and advisors are not adding alpha to some of the most recognized portfolios in the land. Check out this PDF file, “The Futility of the Endowment Model.” There several salient […]
Feynman Portfolio Study: Part 9-1 Diversification, Correlation and Clusters
In this Post I introduce the concepts of Cluster Analysis to Portfolio Construction. Hierarchical Clustering is a mathematical/statistical method of analysis supported by widely accepted scientific methods. Don’t worry, I’m not going into all that technical detail – anyone who is so inclined can Google the subject on the Internet. Rather, I describe the practical […]
Great Operatic Choruses
If you enjoy majestic choral work conducted by Robert Shaw, this CD is for you. Grand and Glorious: Great Operatic Choruses is one fine collection. I am partial to the Pilgrim’s Chorus, Chorus of Hebrew Slaves, Prisoner’s Chorus, and the selection from Carmen. Here is one positive review from an Amazon listener. “I’m not a […]
Top Twenty-Five Classical Composers
Top Classical Music Composers When I first started to make a list of of my favorite classical composers, the idea was to limit it to the Top Ten. I found that to be impossible so I expanded it to 25. Even then, several of my favorites did not make the list. Here is my selection […]
Correlation Matrix of Critical ETFs
As requested in a comment, here is the correlation matrix of critical ETFs used in nearly all the ITA portfolios. I cut the time frame to 23 months of data so VSS and VNQI did not show up with “short-term” data errors. Identical percentages were assigned to each ETF with exception of SDS. The percentages […]
Keep It Simple
Don’t be surprised if you don’t know the difference between a benchmark ETF and a strategic ETF. Strategic is sometimes called “Fundamental” or “Active” and they differ from the ETFs we recommend for our ITA portfolios. To read more about the differences, check out the URL referenced below. Richard Ferri writes about the increasing complexity […]
Buffett vs. Steadman
For every Warren Buffet there are a hundred Charlie Steadman’s in the investing world. While nearly every investor has heard of Buffett, few remember Charlie Steadman. Is there a reason for this short memory? “Until he died at age 83 in 1997, Charlie Steadman burned through investors’ assets at a rate unseen in the fund […]
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