Imagine The Wall Street Journal ran a contest for its subscribers in which each subscriber viewed 100 photos of various men and women. To participate in the contest, each subscriber must pick the six most attractive people. The subscriber that choses the photos voted for most often will win $1 Read more…
Invest or Pay Down Debt?
Should you invest in the market or pay down debt? Read more…
New President, Same Portfolio: Why the Election Shouldn’t Impact Your Investments
Few topics in America are as polarizing as politics. With the presidential election as the embodiment of political discord, it’s no wonder last night’s results have caused such a stir. Read more…
What's the Biggest Mistake Investors Make?
Last month I had the pleasure of speaking at the Midwest Private Wealth Forum in Chicago on a range of equity market topics. One of my favorite questions asked was: “What is the biggest mistake you see investors making?” Read more…
Democrats vs. Republicans: Who Is Better for the Stock Market?
Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik Have you ever wondered whether the stock market does better when the President of the United States is a Republican or Democrat? Read more…
The Collective Knowledge of Markets
Meet Penelope the cow. NPR’s Planet Money asked the internet how much Penelope weighed and got 17,205 responses. The average of all the responses was 1,287 pounds and the actual weight was 1,355 pounds. The average was off by only five percent. This experiment, which was originally conducted in Read more…
Stock Market Correction
I wrote an article at the beginning of the summer titled Volatility is Not the Enemy. I remember thinking it would be the perfect article for whenever the market had a correction. Since it had been nearly four years since the last correction, I figured it should be published and referred back to Read more…
Risk Tolerance
Today we continue a discussion that began with defining risk and then focused on measuring the risk/return tradeoff. To briefly summarize those articles, we learned: Read more…
How to Analyze Risks and Returns in Investing with Plancorp
Smart investment decisions are necessary on the road to financial security, but it's important to understand how to analyze the risks and returns associated with investment decisions. Knowing how to analyze risk and return properly can help you build a successful portfolio. Read more…
Valuations and Return Expectations
Valuation – the price you pay for earnings, assets minus liabilities, cash flow, etc – is one of the best indicators of future returns. In general, we experience lower returns when valuations are high (i.e. stocks are more expensive), and higher returns when valuations are low (stocks are cheaper). Read more…
