30 Jan 2017

A Quote to Consider from Sir John Templeton

I am continually amazed by the huge number of thoughtful and apropos quotes that concern investing.  I’ve been writing and editing our quarterly newsletter, Portfolio Insights, for more than 15 years and I can still find plenty of great quotes without too many repeats. While I enjoy a great quote, I can’t say that any of them rise to the level of being an investing philosophy to live by, except… Read More

By David Ott Tags: , , , ,
20 Jul 2016

A Silly but True Market Anomaly

I heard a funny exchange between Gene Fama and Dick Thaler, two University of Chicago professors that sit on opposite sides of the debate about whether markets are efficient.  If you’ve got 45 minutes, I recommend watching the whole discussion by clicking here. As an example of market inefficiency, Thaler told a funny story about a closed-end mutual fund with the ticker symbol: CUBA.  The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin fund doesn’t invest… Read More

By David Ott Tags: , , ,
16 Jun 2016

Financial Times Recognizes Acropolis

I am pleased to announce that for the second time, Acropolis has been named a top Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) by the Financial Times (FT). The FT starts by looking at firms with more than $300 million in assets under management, which is about 1,500 RIAs.  They invite firms to fill out a questionnaire and then evaluate the companies based on six key attributes: assets under management (AUM), asset growth,… Read More

By David Ott Tags: ,
9 May 2016

Mindfulness Meditation in Montreal

I suppose that the event planners at the CFA Institute know better than to cram too much technical material into the first day of a conference, especially on a Sunday. For one of the first sessions they invited Jeremy Hunter, a professor at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management and expert in the field of applying mindfulness meditation in business. Jeremy has spent the last 3-years developing a mindfulness… Read More

By Cliff Reynolds Tags: ,
15 Apr 2016

Yale Bets Big Overseas

One of my favorite reads of the year is from the Yale Investments Office, which manages their $25.6 billion endowment.  You can find the report by clicking here. Yale is routinely the best-performing endowment in the world and has earned a remarkable 13.9 percent return over the last 30 years – well above the 10.7 percent return for US stocks, 8.7 percent return for foreign stocks and 7.1 percent return… Read More

By David Ott Tags: , ,
9 Mar 2016

Naming Names on Broker Misconduct

When we started this business more than 13 years ago, I maintained a scrapbook of article clippings that I called “The Big Book of Broker Misdeeds.” At the time, we were coming out of the tech wreck and there were tons of articles about how brokers steered widows and orphans into unsuitable hot technology funds during the bubble years that blew apart when they fell back to earth. I know a… Read More

By David Ott Tags: , ,
16 Feb 2016

Fed Policy: From ZIRP to NIRP?

In the third quarter last year, I wrote at least two articles that used the acronym ZIRP, which stands for ‘zero interest rate policy.’  At the time, all of the conversation was about how the Fed was ending ZIRP with their first interest rate hike in seven years. Today is the two-month anniversary of the hike and the discussion has moved from ZIRP to NIRP, which stands for ‘negative interest… Read More

By David Ott Tags: , ,
22 Dec 2015

Treasury Bills Beat Oil 30 Years On

Although oil ultimately finished higher yesterday, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude touched on a 2004 low during the day.  I know I am repeating myself, but I continue to be surprised by how far oil has dropped in the last 18 months. As you know, I think a chart is worth 1,000 words, so I’ve plotted the spot price for WTI as far back as my Bloomberg data would take… Read More

By David Ott Tags: ,
20 Nov 2015

Possible Law Changes Beyond File and Suspend

Back in 1995, I subscribed to the big industry rag for stock brokers, Registered Rep Magazine.  Twenty years later, I still get the magazine, although I haven’t held a broker’s license (the Series 7) for more than a decade. When I sat down to read it a few days ago, I was struck by one of the articles, which said that the popular Social Security maximization strategy, File and Suspend,… Read More

By David Ott Tags: ,
26 Oct 2015

Jack Bogle Doesn’t ‘Do” International Investing

Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, is one of my heroes.  Earlier this year, there was a petition to award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom (that I asked you to sign) and he wasn’t even close to getting enough signatures for the President to consider the petition.  I was both surprised and disappointed. I’ve read several of his books and whenever I see him interviewed, I pay attention.  A… Read More

By David Ott Tags: ,