Osbon on the Money

My son Max is a superstar in the making at Bloomberg, and therefore has access to the latest market intelligence 24/7. When I got a note from him last week about a potential market disaster looming on the horizon, it gave me a chill.

At Osbon Capital, we continuously seek to improve every aspect of the business. Most recently we’ve been reworking our web site to bring our index-only philosophy to the fore and make our extensive library of articles easier to use and peruse.

When securities move in the same direction at the same time, that’s called correlation. If all stocks are highly correlated it doesn’t really matter what you own; all stocks rise or fall on the same fickle tide. “Everything moves together,” many complain. This is a common perception these days, but is it supported by the facts? Has over-correlation killed the…

It’s always a pleasure to read Blackstone Vice Chairman Byron Wien’s annual 10 Surprises list.  For breadth, open-mindedness, and contrarian thinking, Byron’s list, published since 1986, can’t be beat.  But should you invest your money this way?  Is Byron’s list, and those of less talented pundits, a reliable source of investment management guidance?  I say no, and here’s why.

The investment returns for 2011 are now officially in. It was a good year for many asset classes, like bonds, gold, and domestic stocks.  For others, like emerging markets, it was straight down.  I am happy to report that the four of the largest index positions at Osbon Capital – DIA, GLD, TIP, and VNQ – had positive returns ranging…

It’s been a great investment year for some, awful for others, and mixed for many.  Time for a break, I say.  As our last piece for 2011 I present my favorite five authors who can just make me laugh. It’s a diverse lot, but they all have one thing in common; they resist the temptation to take the world and…

Let’s be honest. In many businesses, customer service is dead or dying. Stores without salespeople. Telephone “help” lines with endless prompts to nowhere. Call center reps who have no idea who you are, what you need, or how to help. In too many cases, service has become a casualty of indiscriminant cost cutting or just poor business strategy. When it…

Yes, it’s that time of year again. A time for lists – Christmas, New Year’s resolutions, among others. Add one more: your 2012 investment fitness checklist. If you want to wake up on New Years Day knowing that your portfolio is already at work just the way you would like it to be, use this checklist as your guide.

I was privileged earlier this week to be a guest lecturer in Professor Erik Sirri’s class at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Professor Sirri is unique, to my knowledge, in offering a course called Personal Financial Management for first-year MBAs at top schools.  Wow, do I wish that course were offered back in the day…