December 16, 2009 As an investor, it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees. Fads, convoluted investment products, and the daily noise of the financial media distract us when we should be focusing on the basic principles that are the overwhelming determinants of long-term success. Unfortunately, ignoring the following four fundamental investment [...]
Recently there has been much media attention around the deteriorating status of the U.S. dollar and the surging price of gold. As a result of these headlines, many clients have asked us about the investment implications of the dollar and of gold. Since its March highs, the U.S. dollar has tumbled more than 40% against [...]
Despite the robust stock market rally from the March 9th lows, most investors have been enamored with what they perceive to be “safe” investment alternatives in today’s economy and market environment. Bonds and gold, therefore, have become the investments du jour while stocks have largely been ignored. Morningstar reports that, year-to-date through September, investors have [...]
For prudent investors, asset allocation serves as the cornerstone of a sound investment strategy. A sensible investment policy should consider factors such as investment time horizon, goals, future plans to save, potential for emergency expenditures, cash flow projections, and psychological tolerance for losses. These factors should be balanced with economic and market expectations to construct [...]
“We are standing by a wishing well / Make a wish into the well / That’s all you have to do / And if you hear it echoing / Your wish will soon come true.” – Snow White, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Today we are examining what we perceive to be [...]
“Many shall be restored that now are fallen and many shall fall that are now in honor.” – from Horace’s Ars Poetica In our experience, a strict investment discipline is the number one contributor to investment success. Changing strategy with the prevailing winds is the number one contributor to investment failure. Many individual investors, and [...]
