The Aon Hewitt 401(k) Index tracks trading activity across 1.3 million 401(k) accounts representing approximately $160 billion of, ahem, “long-term” investments. What did these “long-term” investors do during recent market volatility? Preceding the volatility average daily trading volumes for July and August were in line with normal levels. On Fri 8/21/15 when the S&P 500 [...]
Remember those turbulent financial markets? Nah, that was sooooo last week. This is 2015 – the social media age. Big Media has already moved on to important topics like recapping the VMAs. Since it was so long ago we think a quick refresher is warranted: 1) Nothing fundamentally changed 2) Financial markets sold off. 3) [...]
One day the DJIA is down 500 pts. The next it’s up 300 pts. The next it’s down 700 pts before reversing course to close up 900 pts. The next... Whatever happens on a daily basis you can call us Jimmy Crack Corn because we don’t care. It’s a frustrating time. We’re loathe to comment [...]
“To them I say don’t believe the hype.” - Chuck D “Yo Chuck they must be on the pipe, right?” - Flavor Flav (Obscure references to Styx and Public Enemy in the same post? Time for a self-congratulatory pat on the back!) We’re not going to accuse the financial services industry of smoking crack but [...]
W. Scott Simon often serves in litigation and arbitrations as an expert witness on fiduciary issues. Similarly he frequently writes about the Uniform Prudent Investor Act. Consider the following from a recent article he authored about the problem with disclosing conflicts of interest: “Disclosures of conflicts made by many financial services providers tell you just [...]
Some rather provocative words from Barry Ritholtz: 3 simple rules will explain 99% of human behavior 1) Most people don’t think. 2) Some people are jerks. 3) Everyone is selling something. — Barry Ritholtz (@ritholtz) June 15, 2015 Point #3 reminds me of the sentiment, ‘everyone has an agenda.’ I fought this for the longest [...]
There’s a fantastic exchange between President Andrew Shepherd and his aide Lewis Rothschild from 1995’s The American President written by Aaron Sorkin: Lewis Rothschild: “People want leadership…and in the absence of genuine leadership they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone...They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage [...]
Sex sells. This isn't a surprise. But while we're titillated (how's that for a delicious pun?) by financial porn the feeling is fleeting. The results are disastrous. Just how bad is it? Kudos to Jimmy Atkinson at Fund Reference for putting together this plain language comparison (with pretty charts for the USA Today crowd) for [...]
NFL teams pour lots of time and energy into proverbially kicking the tires of potential draft picks. They do their research and make their decisions. In the end it seems like a crap shoot. Many of the high profile names and 1st round draft choices offer little on-field production while those flying beneath the radar [...]
This article from the folks at Bloomberg is excellent reading. It speaks volumes about the herd mentality, the fear of missing out, etc.