Does Size Matter?
Is a bigger mutual fund a better performing mutual fund? Here's a look YTD returns showing how some of the largest funds are performing. (Link has since been removed from Morningstar's site.)
AMT Relief in Sight
In 1726 Daniel Defoe wrote in The Political History of the Devil, "Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed." The more familiar phrase was used by Benjamin Franklin writing in a 1789 letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, "In this world nothing can be certain, except death and taxes." In 2010 Apollo [...]
Philadelphia Financial Planning Day
On Oct 23rd we had the privilege of volunteering at the first Philadelphia Financial Planning Day. Attendees met one-on-one with financial planners to discuss their personal finance questions, concerns and interests. In addition they had the opportunity to select from a series of 50-minute educational workshops. The free event was held at Ben Franklin High [...]
Doing Our Part to Reduce the Budget Deficit
President Obama's debt-reduction panel is looking at curbing the more than $1 trillion in tax breaks the Internal Revenue Code provides as a way to raise money without raising income taxes. This sounds fair. Why should special interests get tax breaks while the average American foots the bill? Here's a sampling of some of the [...]
QE2 – the Latest Weapon in the War against China
The Fed's policy of Quantitative Easing ("QE") in the wake of Lehman's bankruptcy and the subsequent financial crisis was aimed at providing a substantial pool of liquidity to restore confidence in the financial system. The latest round of QE (dubbed "QE2") is aimed at spurring economic growth. Whether QE2 is necessary or will work has [...]
Third Avenue Value Celebrates a Happy 20th Anniversary
Longtime friends and clients of Apollo Wealth Management know we are HUGE fans of Marty Whitman and the people, philosophy and mutual funds of Third Avenue Management. This month marks the 20th anniversary of the flagship fund - Third Avenue Value. A brief summary of the founding and growth of the fund may be found here.
People Who Live in Glass Houses…
Unless you've been living on the moon for the past 2 years you've heard Obama, Pelosi and team blame the housing crisis (and just about everything else from the Kennedy assassination to the extinction of the dinosaurs) on Wall Street. Indeed the financial engine that drives our economy is complicit. There's no debating this point. [...]
The Games People Play
Have you heard the expression "cooking the books?" Have you ever thought about what it really means or how it's done? Read this article for an interesting, plain language explanation. Enron would be proud!
The Second Coming of Ross Perot?
Your child comes home from school with report card full of lousy grades. What do you do? You coddle him. "Everything's OK. It's not your fault." He doesn't see a problem so he doesn't take the necessary actions and his grades don't improve. On the other hand you yell at him. "You don't try hard [...]
When a 36% ROR isn’t a 36% ROR
The eight investment funds created under "PPIP" (Treasury Secretary Geithner's Public-Private Investment Program) have proven a smashing success. Through September 30th the average net internal rate of return ("ROR") is 36%. The program aimed to help ailing U.S. banks by purchasing so-called toxic mortgage-backed securities ("MBS") weighing down their balance sheets. Treasury partnered with private [...]