Investment Management

Digital currency acceptance among the general population has made great strides since we last wrote about it in 2017. Many have predicted that governments will adopt digital currencies as a better way to track and influence currency supplies. This government adoption is happening in China as we speak. It will likely happen in the US in the not too distant…

While we are all focused on election changes, let’s take a moment here to step back and check in on some of the long term trends. An election date is a punctuation mark in time, and there is always broader context that one can look to for insight. Here are some thoughts on the big picture and other major recent…

We have been stuck in a range-bound territory for broader market indices since the beginning of September. The election is imminent and the virus activity in many parts of the world is returning. The lack of the stimulus plan and potential monopoly regulation adds to anxiety, understandably so. Despite all of this, we see a positive road ahead for investors…

We’re at a crossroads for large technology monopolies and their platform business models. If we regulate them and slow their growth, they could stall and lose out on new opportunities. If we don’t regulate them, they could increasingly grow more dominant while crowding out new entrants and resting on their laurels. Competition is what keeps companies fit, lean and hungry….

We all know there is a great deal of uncertainty about the next election, who will win, who will have control and who the new players will be. By design, the US experiences a major reshuffling every four years in our political structure. Despite the unpredictable changes, one thing is clear: there will be more fiscal stimulus going forward. There…

The rise of public cloud computing was an inevitable next step following the development of the internet. Cloud computing allows companies to access sophisticated connected servers without the hassle of designing, constructing and maintaining complex data centers. With its ability to enable new business models, unlock exponential rates of growth and increase access, the public cloud transformation has a lot to offer.

Perma-bear is a term used to describe an investor with a perpetually negative view of the future. Perma-bears are worth listening to because they can help us gauge where the worst of the worst risks could be lurking. In aggregate, they attract headlines but their track record has not been positive as they are far more often wrong. Let’s take…

Over the past 20 years, intangible assets have become the dominant factor in company valuations. Today approximately 85% of the valuation of the S&P 500 is defined by intangibles, while in 1975, that percentage was just 17%. Intangibles are notoriously difficult to value. Given their slippery nature and their power to generate returns, it’s worth paying attention to the qualities…

Population trends are often absent from investment research reports. Population growth rates are best when measured in decades and centuries, which is perhaps too slow to be considered new information. Since 1900, the world population has exploded from 1.6 billion to 6.1 billion in 2000 and 7.8 billion today. However, population growth passed an inflection point nearly 50 years ago…