Investment Management

4 Ways To Maintain A Focus On The Long Term

Mar 20, 2019 - John Osbon ( 5 mins to read)

As the first quarter nears an end the inevitable question arises, “How long can the strong Q1 returns go on?” Amid the uncertainty we see many investors holding cash with little interest in taking on risk. This cautious approach means safety in the short term, but perhaps at a big loss of opportunity for the long term. Here are four ways to maintain a long-term focus following the first quarter’s sharp and unexpected advance. Ignore the “I don’t want to…

Invest Like A Conservative

Mar 6, 2019 - John Osbon ( 5 mins to read)

When a recent new client signed on with Osbon Capital, he described himself as "a conservative investor.” Because that phrase can mean different things to different people, it was important to discuss what that meant to this individual. What is the goal of conservative investing? What does it look like in practice? What would a conservative investor invest in now? And so on. The discussion inspired me to tackle the topic for this week’s article.

A Late Stage Market Melt-UP

Feb 6, 2019 - John Osbon ( 4 mins to read)

Without doubt the investment year is off to a great start. The stock market in the US is up 8%. January’s return is the best one since 1987. The way things are going we could see a repeat of 2013, one of the best diversified return years ever. What is going right and what could go wrong? Why January is strong January’s stock and bond market returns are strong due to fundamentals. Stock valuations are fairly cheap, earnings are increasing…

Family Offices: A More Personal and Private Approach

Jan 23, 2019 - Max Osbon ( 4 mins to read)

Why are more wealthy families turning to family offices for investment management and wealth planning? At the top of the list are privacy, dedicated expertise and aligned incentives. A recent profile by The Economist on the family office landscape reveals interesting insights about how these offices are run, how they invest and why they appeal to more investors today. Here’s how you can follow along with the best of the industry:

Information Shutdown

Jan 16, 2019 - John Osbon ( 4 mins to read)

The government shutdown is now entering its fourth week, cutting off a large source of useful information for investors. How are investors supposed to keep track of what is going on financially and economically without government statistics? It’s our job to work around difficult situations. Here is what we, and investors, can count on during an information drought.

Why Volatility Is Here To Stay

And what you can do about it

Jan 2, 2019 - John Osbon ( 5 mins to read)

Eight hundred point swings in the Dow have been alarmingly regular events in the last month. Swings that large represent a 3% change in the 30 most important stocks in the United States — in one day. And it’s not just the Dow. Similar moves have been hitting the S&P 500 and stock markets outside the US. Even the benchmark 10 year US Treasury bond has been flip flopping with large price changes. Is this the new and harmless normal or…

The second law of thermodynamics and your portfolio

Dec 12, 2018 - Max Osbon ( 5 mins to read)

Nobel prize-winning physicist and world-famous lecturer Richard Feynman may be known best by his endless cross-discipline curiosity. This curiosity and exploration into new fields resulted in many novel and useful discoveries. Expanding on the mental models theme we discussed two weeks ago and crossing disciplines into the realm of physics, this article explores the second law of thermodynamics and how it applies to your investment life.

Trade wars and your portfolio – 3 measures

Dec 5, 2018 - John Osbon ( 5 mins to read)

War is a big word and usually cause for concern among investors. I’ll limit this article to the financial aspects of a war because this war I am talking about is overwhelmingly financial. When the word war is mentioned many older people think of the Cold War. The Cold War was much more than financial and ended decades ago. Now the phrase Trade War is in the air. How can you tell the effect on your portfolio of a Trade War?

5 Mental Models To Help You Be A Better Investor

Nov 28, 2018 - Max Osbon ( 5 mins to read)

Shane Parish isn’t yet a household name but over the last two years, he’s become one of my favorite thinkers and writers. Here are five mental models from his complete list of 109 with comments on how you can apply them to your investment thinking. The goal of this article is to help you find new answers to old questions by altering the way you look at the problem.