Harold R. Evensky, in his Wealth Management: The Financial Advisor’s Guide to Investing and Managing Client Assets book, makes a distinction between index and passive investing. Few readers are unaware of the differences between active and passive management, but the subtle definitions between index and passive management deserves some attention. I subscribe to the principles […]
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 […]
Retirement Planning Mistake #5
Investors pick individual stocks to build portfolios rather than use index funds. Our preference is to use commission free ETFs. Next to not following “The Golden Rule of Investing,” the error of not using index funds is likely the biggest mistake investors make. Remember – The Market is smarter than you are. While there are […]
Schrodinger Portfolio Review: 30 May 2014
Here we are at the end of May and the passively managed Schrodinger is up for review. We last purchased ETFs in March when shares of DBC, RWX, and VEA were added to the portfolio to bring several asset classes back into balance. Right now Commodities (DBC or DBA) is the only asset class running […]
Why I Use Index ETFs
Why I use Index Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Let me count the ways. Simplicity: It saves the work of stock analysis. Increases probability of success: A literature search of index investing vs. active stock picking will have the honest researcher coming down on the side of index instruments. The literature is replete with this information […]
The Skeptical Investor: Should I Follow An Active or Passive Management Model?
What if you fall into the investor class who is not completely convinced of the benefits of the momentum model or active management? Is there a middle ground where one might combine the Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) model and the momentum model? It is easy to be torn between active management and passive management as […]
The Elements of Investing: Part II
Chapter two of The Elements of Investing covers index investing. When it comes to investing, nobody knows more than the market. William F. Sharpe put is simply in an article many years ago when he wrote – The Arithmetic of Active Management. I find it humorous that Sharpe did not use the word mathematics in […]