Reader Nitin pointed to an article in the NYT called “The Crowd Is Restless, but Maybe That’s a Good Sign.”It deals with contrarian analysis, which simply means that historically the tendency for investors is to be wrong at major turning points. Market tops are reached when there are very few bears left and therefore no money is available on the …
Investment Management: Whose Money Is It Anyway?
A couple of days ago, I posted about a reader’s question regarding SMAs (Separately Managed Accounts). You may recall that the reader also said that “Last time I had a SMA with that broker they made it so difficult to close it. I am now afraid of opening another one with them.”Huh? Unfortunately, this is nothing I haven’t heard before …
Sunday Musings: Why Business People Speak Like Idiots
Today’s heading “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots” is actually the title of one of my favorite books written by authors Fugere, Hardaway and Warshawsky. It’s a fabulous effort of unearthing the stupidity and ignorance that goes on in meetings, during Power Point presentations and general communications in corporate America. Bloated jargon and monotonous memos contribute to the official language …
Investment Management: Let’s Put Some Lipstick On That Pig
The brokerage industry is always inventing new products and then touting the incredible benefits to you, the individual investor. One such product has created some confusion for one of my readers, who wrote as follows:“I thank you for your postings about how mutual funds will not protect us in bear markets. They will go with their mandate of sticking to …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 6/21/2007
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpThe bears had the upper hand this week and all major indexes ended sharply lower. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs is now positioned +2.98% above its long-term trend line (red) as the chart below shows: The international index has now moved to +6.64% above its own trend line, …
ETF Investing: Enlightening Facts You Need To Know
Don’t let it be said that Morningstar doesn’t have a sense of humor. A recent article called “10 Surprising ETF Facts” covers an array of ETF facts ranging from amusing to downright shocking. For example, did you know that 30% of all domestically listed ETFs have been launched in the last 6 months? That’s a scary thought I touched on …