10 Sep 2014

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Smart Beta

Speaking of hot topics, the investment community is abuzz with a new term: smart beta. The term is gaining increasing popularity and the current edition of Institutional Investor magazine has a lengthy article (and series of ‘sponsored content’ pages) on the topic. Despite the popularity of the phrase in the industry right now (I do think it’s a fad, but I will get to that in a minute), let me… Read More

3 Jun 2014

Cliff Asness Says: Fire Your Mechanic

One of my favorite people in our industry is Cliff Asness, founder and current mouthpiece for AQR, one of the mutual fund companies that we use. His academic background is very strong, he got his PhD in finance from the University of Chicago, the intellectual home of efficient markets, but wrote his dissertation on momentum, the most significant critique of the efficient market hypothesis.  His advisor was none other than… Read More