By Steven Smith | Peak Thoughts , Uncategorized
A recent column entitled, Survivor Bias: Why Successful Value Investors Live Longer, mused on the apparent longevity of legendary value investors Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett. Today’s long suffering value investors, looking for a silver lining in the decade plus underperformance of value stocks, may find one in Munger’s quip that “professors, judges and value […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Peak Thoughts , Uncategorized
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs… Rudyard Kipling, from the poem If, circa 1895 We will forever be debating the causes of the 2008 financial crisis and the government’s attempts to minimize its effects. But the worst modern bear market other than the one caused by the Great […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Meanderings , Uncategorized
It’s only been a few weeks since the passing of John Bogle, the inventor of the index fund. In memoriam, I – along with many others – was singing the praises of the index fund for its ultra-low-cost ability to track the broad market. One writer has even given credit to the index fund for […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Meanderings , Uncategorized
Millions of American investors – including yours truly – owe a debt of gratitude to John “Jack” Bogle, who died on January 16 at the age of 89. Adulations have been pouring in for the inventor of the index fund (dubbed “Bogle’s Folly by critics at the time) and founder of Vanguard. Even from the […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Waypoints
The S & P 500 (total return) Index fell 13.52% in the 4th quarter, bringing the benchmark index to a loss for the year of 4.38%. This, following a best-quarter-in-five-years gain of 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. The negative 9.03% in December was the 11th worst month in the past 50 years. The three worst […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Investment Management , Waypoints
The S & P 500 (total return) Index experienced its best quarter in five years, rising 7.2%. (Of course, things happen so fast, that as of this writing the S&P 500 has fallen almost 4.5% in the first nine days of the third quarter; led largely by falling technology stocks and possibly attributed to the […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Investment Management , Meanderings , Wealth Management
On August 1, 2018, Fidelity Investments, by introducing two zero-management fee index funds, seemingly fired a shot across the bow of the 18th century vessel that is Vanguard’s vaunted logo. For over forty years, Vanguard, the shareholder-owned behemoth has led the way in reducing the cost of investing to a level approaching zero. The Admiral […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Investment Management , Money , News , Newsletters
The S & P 500 (total return) Index bounced back from its first quarter (.75%) loss, rising 3.43% in the second quarter. But US stocks were the lone wolf; with virtually all other major asset classes falling. The MSCI World (ex USA) Index fell 2.61%, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 7.96%. After being […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Financial News , Investment Management , Money , Newsletters
It was nice while it lasted. The S & P 500 (total return) Index fell .75%, its first quarterly loss since the third quarter of 2015. Some asset classes, of course, fared a bit better, with the small-cap Russell 2000 Index down .08%. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 1.42%. Others performed worse. The MSCI […]
Continue readingBy Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Financial News , Investment Management , Newsletters
Global equity markets defied predictions – and perhaps even gravity – in 2017. The S & P 500 (total return) index increased 21.83%, landing in the top third best performances in its history. Foreign markets, buoyed by a falling dollar, performed even better. The MSCI World ex USA (net dividends) Index gained 24.21%. The MSCI […]
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