On financial networks and in finance classrooms around the globe, stock market volatility is routinely mis-classified as “risk.” Unfortunately, this erroneous view causes people to make investment mistakes. Elroy Dimson, a London Business School professor once wrote, that risk “means more things can happen than will happen.” It’s an eloquent way for describing risk, which …
What’s your investment portfolio’s performance? Do you know? Just 57% of U.S. adults are “financially literate,” according to a study from Standard & Poor’s titled the “2015 Global Financial Literacy Survey.” Another study by a large insurance company found that people are more frightened by planning their finances than dying. What’s wrong? Part of the problem …
Heading into the final trading month of the year, the U.S. stock market has history riding on its side. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA), the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY), and the Nasdaq Composite (NasdaqGM:ONEQ) have all posted average of gains between +2.3% to 5.1% during the fourth quarter of pre-election years in the past 66 years. And …
The extraordinary performance of U.S. stocks over the past six years has been like the 1960s Boston Celtics: Dominant and unbeatable. But is the tide changing? From 2009 to present the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) has gained almost +135%, while the SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF (NYSEARCA:MDY) surged +149.72% and the iShares S&P SmallCap 600 (NYSEARCA:IJR) jumped …
Although we know market prices always trump seasonality in terms of importance, we shouldn’t completely ignore the significance of historical seasonal trends. Since 1996, the S&P 500 (SNP:^GSPC) has ended higher during the month of January 55% of the time but with a flat return. This particular January appears to be an obvious divergence from this trend. …
When measuring the investment performance of a portfolio, the biggest mistakes people make are 1) not tracking performance at all, or 2) comparing a portfolio’s performance to flawed yardsticks. The first point should be self-explanatory, so let’s focus on the second point. If a certain portfolio holds an asset mix of 25% U.S. stocks (NYSEARCA:SCHB), …
Wall Street’s Rogue Way for Measuring Performance Apes the 16th Century Medical Field Read More »