Insights on markets, emergent trends, history, innovation, risk management, global economics, strategy, policy, and other topics that catch our attention. Inspired by ongoing research, conversations and events. Written and edited by Osbon Capital Management and published every Thursday morning.
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Beating a donkey for not being a horse
Active investors are at it again Underperforming, that is. According to the Wall Street Journal, 74 percent of actively managed large cap funds are lagging the S&P 500. The Journal’s story, “Stock Pickers Have Tough Time in 2014” lists the usual reasons active managers underperform such as market timing, high costs, wrong guesses and overconfidence in forecasting. Even the weather…
Boston goes to the Wall Street Decathlon
Once per year 150 amateur and former professional athletes from Wall Street ditch their suits and gather to raise money for Memorial Sloan Kettering Pediatric Cancer Center by competing for the title of Wall Street’s Best Athlete. The event, the RBC Wall Street Decathlon, is comprised of 10 events designed as an all around test of speed, strength, and stamina….
Investment Fitness Checklist
Investment fitness never goes out of style The last time I wrote about investment fitness, I suggested that the best time to put your portfolio into order and balance was during good times, because it can be difficult and expensive to accomplish during market turmoil. As it turned out, that was November 30, 2007, shortly after the Dow crested over 14,000…
Investors gain in any fee battle
Blackrock’s iShares unit announced this week a new lineup of low-fee European ETFs. With the average expense ratio among these new ETFs at 17 basis points (.17 percent), it’s ETF investors who stand to gain the most. Compare that to separately managed account and mutual fund expense ratios that average around 100bps. Not even close. Fund expense ratios are by…
The Great Hedge Fund Mystery
If you’ve heard people are making a killing in hedge funds, you heard right. The operators of hedge funds earn oversized fees year in and year out. Their investors, not so much. What do the hedgies do to earn the big fees? This is one of investing’s most baffling mysteries. Hedge funds are essentially mutual funds without a curfew. Because…
The Really Big Picture
Headlines are scary. Markets shoot up on Monday then tumble on Tuesday. Weekly economic reports are all over the map. Pundits tell us the sky is falling, or is sure to fall sometime soon. Awash in a daily tsunami of confusing, confounding and contradictory news and sentiment, it can be hard for investors to keep their bearings. That’s when I…
Osbon Capital hires Resonance Insights
Here at Osbon Capital, we believe everything in the world can and will be made better. That’s why we hired Resonance Insights to help make Osbon Capital a better place for clients and a more attractive option for investors who have not yet become clients. Here’s what we’re doing. Always ready to learn What do people really think? What are our clients’ unspoken needs? What can we…
The Kids
How will your kids learn about money, how to get it, save it, spend it, manage it if they inherit it? Not talking about these topics can leave kids uninformed and unprepared for the responsibilities that come with money.
It’s Decathlon Time!
150 athletes. 10 events. One great cause. That’s the RBC Decathlon, a long summer day of running, throwing, lifting and jumping for the benefit of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. We’ll be there, and you can help. Max has participated in this phenomenal event for the last two years. I joined the fun in 2013. And we’re both looking forward to…
