Never Got Kodak
I remember looking at Eastman Kodak a number of times over the last decade. Often a few metrics would look cheap, but when I would look at the bevy of factors in the financials and consider the effects of technology, I...
Read MoreAuthor: David Merkel
Evaluating Six Investing Mistakes To Avoid
I read this article today, and he invited comments. Here are my comments (his words are in italic): While no investment approach is successful all of the time, here are six common investing mistakes to avoid: Inability to...
Read MoreThe War Against Savers
Today, Charles Rotblut, CFA who is the AAII Journal Editor wrote: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke continues to be the enemy of savers. Yesterday, the Boston Red Sox fan reiterated his belief that interest rates should be...
Read MoreOn Insurance/Securities Company Lawyers
This will be an odd piece that some will want to skip. My impression of lawyers has been shaped by the lawyers I came to interact with inside insurance companies. At company A, everything was thin and...
Read MoreRedacted Version of the June 2011 FOMC Statement
April 2011 June 2011 Comments Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that the economic recovery is proceeding at a moderate pace Information received since the Federal Open Market...
Read MoreBook Review: The Misbehavior of Markets
I met Benoit Mandelbrot at a conference at Columbia University back in early 2001. It was a conference on the use of fractals in a wide number of subject areas, very few of which dealt with economics. ...
Read MoreWhat I Think Technical Analysis Is
I have internally debated about writing this for years. I hold the following with weak conviction, and invite correction. If I want to describe fundamental investing, I will use a model of free cash flows. Now,...
Read MoreWhat is Liquidity (V)
I am sure that I will write more on this topic, should I live so long. My contentions are: Securitization does not create liquidity, it only redirects it. The Fed does not create liquidity, it only redirects it. The...
Read MoreWait to Buy Berkshire Hathaway
Catastrophes come in clumps. Part of that is the correlatedness of weather. When disasters are occurring, it may pay to wait until the season is near its end to buy reinsurers. Who can tell what additional...
Read MoreChasing Your Tail Risk
There are many people out there following aggressive investment strategies, but they want to be covered if things go wrong. Why not sell down the positions a little and buy some high quality short-to-intermediate-term...
Read MoreFree E-Book
TraderPlanet’s Quick Guide to Candlesticks
