(This was originally posted 3/18/11; a software glitch requires that this be re-posted.) The heart-wrenching and volatile situation in Japan has rattled the world’s stock markets. Daily headlines right now seem to exert greater influence on stock prices than the underlying fundamentals. Wild swings have become the norm, at least in the short term. In [...]
“You should have seen it coming!” Of all the things clients have said to me over the years, that one phrase stings most. In particular, I remember when it was said by one woman, a long term client. I was attending a financial conference; my staff had called my cell phone with the message that [...]
Some SEC regulations are there to protect us from doing dumb things. That’s a good thing, since the world is full of people who would take advantage of unsophisticated investors. Among the safeguards is a set a rules which allow only “accredited investors” to move into what are rightly perceived as complex investments, including so-called [...]
Although Michael Kubin is a financial writer, his op-ed piece in the NY Times of Dec. 11, 2010, “The Ponzi Scheme That Changed My Life,” was not standard dispassionate reporting. He was, you see, a victim of Bernard Madoff’s far-flung crimes. He described the searing pain of his loss, and he concluded with steps he [...]
As long-time clients know, I’m not a big fan of stock brokers. But even I was surprised by a sub-head for a Wall Street Journal article that ran on 12/6/10. It read, “Right now, securities firms don’t have to put investors’ interests first. New regulations may change that – and Wall Street isn’t happy.” Not [...]
Last week Kathy Daly, Vice President here at Weber Asset Management, attended a Financial Advisor Symposium in Orlando. The lead-off speaker was Ned Davis, whose institutional research firm Ned Davis Research has a long and respected record of sizing up stock market trends using objective data points. As befits a market technician, his speech was [...]
Every financial person in America is caught up with the implications of QE2 – the oh-so-cute name attached to the second round of “quantitative easing” by the Federal Reserve Board. At the same time, the average investor remains fairly clueless as to what impact, if any, this move will have on his or her portfolio. [...]
Most people, if they see a problem with the media, frame it in terms of perceived bias to the left or right. To me, it’s more a matter of smart vs. dumb. In our narrow world of investments, there are a few good financial reporters out there, and then there are the rest of them. [...]
Maybe not. Jason Zweig’s column in the October 31, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal contained some sobering news about my colleagues in the money management business. It appears that the professionals, who get paid in part for giving objective advice, seem to fall prey to the same herd mentality as regular folks. Advisors [...]
Every poll I see that takes the pulse of investor sentiment says that the average investor is still shell-shocked by the all-too-recent Great Recession. “Cash is king” has become the mantra of too many former stock market investors. And if not cash (meaning, money market mutual funds) then bonds or bond mutual funds are seen [...]
