Investing Where’s Your Parade? Posted on June 22, 2016June 22, 2016 By Matt Cleveland toasts the NBA champion Cavaliers today. The victory parade marks the end of a grueling season filled with ups and downs. There were challenges on and off the court. Some were very real (making a coaching change partway through the season). Some were manufactured (the drama around Kevin Love… Read more
Due Diligence Six Degrees Posted on May 20, 2016 By Matt There’s a theory/urban legend that everyone is just six degrees of separation from knowing every other person on the planet. I prefer the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon theory that every actor is six degrees (or less) removed from working with Kevin Bacon. For example, Sean Connery is two degrees… Read more
News Cutting Corners Posted on May 9, 2016 By Matt If cutting corners in business is bad, cutting corners when your business is selling sketchy loans means disaster as Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche just found out. The stock is down huge today and the CEO resigned in light of news that Lending Club didn’t deliver what it had promised… Read more
News McKinsey & Co Declare New Normal Posted on April 28, 2016 By Matt Well it’s officially over. The golden era of investing is no more, at least according to McKinsey & Company’s latest research. “The forces that have driven exceptional investment returns over the past 30 years are weakening, and even reversing. It may be time for investors to lower their expectations.” According… Read more
News Wisdom vs Intelligence Posted on April 19, 2016 By Matt For investors, it’s more valuable to be wise than intelligent. The investment world is littered with the carcasses of funds run by the ‘smartest guys in the room’. In the investing ecosystem, intelligence is a given. Ivy League credentials saturate fund manager bios. Sophisticated quantitative models crunch numbers while algorithms trade… Read more
Investing Happy Anniversary Posted on March 10, 2016 By Matt Yesterday marked the anniversary of the market’s lowest point during the financial crisis, the birth of our current bull market. A quick recap: From its previous peak on 10/10/2007, the S&P 500 dropped 55% through 3/9/2009. From 3/9/2009, the S&P 500 gained 237% (almost 19% annualized), including dividends… Read more
News Fear of the Dark Posted on February 11, 2016February 11, 2016 By Matt They come in the night. From the deepest dark, they reach out. Searching. Your fear sustains them. Panic slides you deeper into their grip and dawn will never break for you. You can light bonfires and set a watchman to keep them at bay, though. Light is their enemy and… Read more
News Business as Usual Posted on January 19, 2016 By Matt The S&P 500 is down almost 8%. It’s the worst start to a new year EVER. Is this a sign of things to come? Is the stock market doomed in 2016? Exactly how rare is a downwards move of such epic magnitude? The market has recovered from every downturn it’s… Read more
News Sell Everything Posted on January 12, 2016 By Matt So The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) says 2016 will be a cataclysmic year and to “sell everything except high quality bonds”. There’s even a cute analogy, “In a crowded hall, exit doors are small. Risks are high.” So says RBS analyst Andrew Roberts. “Risks are high.” Risk is the… Read more
Due Diligence January Effect Posted on January 8, 2016 By Matt By now, you’ve heard that the US stock market is off to the worst start to a calendar year ever. This is the sort of news that is trumpeted far and wide as humans are wired to value and pass along bad news (and to elevate the status of those… Read more