Month: November 2019

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I Ran A Marathon! Also, Here’s How to Read a Prospectus

I ran the Philly Marathon this past Sunday! It was my first, and I definitely didn’t run it fast, but I finished. I wasn’t a fan of the rain and snow at the end though. Anyway, back to business…

Many investors that I speak with have their savings invested in a combination of mutual funds. Usually, owned through tax-advantaged accounts like 401k’s and IRAs. This is a good way to invest, although I often notice investors don’t know what fees they are paying. This is an intentional feature of the mutual fund market, unfortunately. Mutual fund providers must provide certain cost information in a prospectus, but many providers intentionally make this information inaccessible.

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Reading List – 14 November 2019

The most important financial news of the past two weeks is that scientists have discovered that Jackson Pollock’s technique cleverly avoided a characteristic of fluid dynamics that leads to unwanted curly tails on paint pourings. Finance!

Source: Plos One. Pollock avoided hydrodynamic instabilities to paint with his dripping technique.
Bernardo Palacios, Alfonso Rosario, Monica M. Wilhelmus, Sandra Zetina, Roberto Zenit.
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You Can’t Beat the Market and You Should Stop Trying

Here are some common questions I get asked as a financial adviser. What’s your system? What’s your investment strategy? Do you focus on market timing or relative value? How do you plan to outperform the market?

These questions are natural. Investors want to understand what advisers are doing with their money. But in a way, these questions demonstrate a lot of the misconceptions about what exactly counts as success in retirement saving.

You shouldn’t try to beat the market. Instead, investors should actually aspire to equaling the market return. Let’s take a look at why.

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