Passing Shots

That was the title of a keynote address given by Vanguard founder John Bogle in February 2005.  For Bogle, a prominent evangelist of low-cost investing, the premise, simply stated, was that investment expenses directly erode investor returns. Investor Returns = Market Returns – Expenses Market  …read more »

Last week, CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which manages approximately $300 billion on behalf of 1.6 million public school and other local and state employees, announced that they “will eliminate its hedge fund program, known internally as the Absolute Return Strategies (ARS) program,  …read more »

Our prior blog post, “The Prediction Paradox”, outlined why investing the Wall Street way, by placing bets based on predictions, was a recipe for financial disaster.  A recent New York Times article presents the perfect case in point on the dangers of ignoring The Prediction  …read more »

Why do people bother to invest in hedge funds? Other than a lack of transparency, excessive fees, tax inefficiency, illiquidity, and underperformance, I suppose they’re OK. They do make for nice cocktail party banter. A recent satirical glimpse into the changing language of the hedge  …read more »