When I look at the present economic environment, I am not encouraged. But if you really want me to be discouraged, talk to me about politics. For the last 40-80 years we have been borrowing, whether implicitly (pensions,...
Read MoreWhen I was a corporate bond manager, I often dealt in less liquid bonds. Why? They had more yield, I only bought those that my credit analysts liked, and I had a balance sheet that could hold them. I had the...
Read MoreI have been thinking about the the forces distorting the global economy. In the long run, the distortions don’t matter, because economies are bigger than governments, and eventually economies prevail over...
Read MoreI think earnings quality is one of the great neglected concepts of investing. Why do many growth investors blow up on seemingly promising companies? The answer is often that the investors did not review earnings...
Read MoreI ordinarily like the writings of Jason Zweig, so this post is not meant as a criticism of him. He wrote an interesting article suggesting that US investors may suffer reduced performance because they invest too much in US...
Read MoreI once wrote a post on university endowment investing that I thought was one of my better ones, but drew little attention. It helped to inform another piece I wrote that was better received, The Forever Fund. Okay,...
Read MoreDecember 2009 January 2010 Comments Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November suggests that economic activity has continued to pick up and that the deterioration in the labor market is abating....
Read MoreBefore I begin, I want to tell all of my friends in Japan that I have a great love for their country. I have not traveled much, but if I were to travel abroad, Japan would be my first choice. Plus, I have many...
Read MoreInsurance is probably the most complex industry as far as accounting goes. Why? When you sell the policy, you have a vague idea of what the costs will be, and when those cash flows will occur. That leaves room...
Read MoreThere seems to be some confusion over what threatened to cause major banks to fail. Let me go over my list of the risks: Many relied on AIG to insure their subprime and other structured lending risks. Note:...
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