One way to judge the performance of a mutual fund or ETF is to compare the results to a relevant benchmark, which is usually an index that has relatively similar characteristics. Another method is to compare your fund to a group of funds that are basically pursuing the same strategy. Admittedly, we don’t use this approach very often, even though I think it would make our job a lot easier… Read More
The most recent issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine featured a photo of a stately gentleman with a blazing headline that read, ‘This Fund Manager Has Consistently Beaten the S&P 500 for 40 Years.’ The article highlights the performance of The Nicholas Fund (ticker: NICSX), a $3.6 billion mutual fund run by Albert Nicholas, who started the fund in 1969. The article says that he has outperformed the S&P 500 by… Read More
Even though I was out of town last week on vacation, I generally keep my ear to the ground for market news and last week that was especially true because the Fed was expected to move one step closer to raising interest rates. For at least a year, the Fed has maintained that they would be ‘patient’ about the timing of raising rates. I assumed, like most people, that the… Read More
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that markets have performed very well over the past five years. The S&P 500 has earned 16.12 percent per year in the five years that ended in February. Few investors realize that corporate bonds have also done very well over the past five years. For the five years that ended in February, the Barclays US Corporate Bond index has earned 6.22… Read More
When I was a senior in college, and just starting to take some finance classes, my professor expressed deep concerns about the stock market’s valuation at the time. Of course, at the time I had no idea what he was even talking about, let alone an opinion about whether he was right or not. Using my trusty Bloomberg terminal, I can see that the price-earnings (PE) ratio for the S&P… Read More
Warren Buffett released his 50th annual letter to shareholders over the weekend and, as usual, it was an enjoyable read. In case you missed it, here’s a link. The report on 2014 activities was fine, but the really interesting part is a look back at the past, present and future of Berkshire Hathaway that begins on page 24. Buffett spends the first five pages discussing the early days, most notably… Read More
