Murderers’ Row

Blessed to be surrounded by colleagues who make me think, teach me new stuff everyday and write incredible, fact-filled investment stuff on a regular basis that just absolutely kills. Three people on my Murderers’ Row did extraordinary stuff just now, and you’re going to be a smarter, more informed investor if you read these…

Ben Carlson wrote about edges, and how quickly competition competes them away once they come apparent. Did you know that in the 1950’s, individual investors owned 95% of the stocks on the market and today 95% are held by institutional investors instead? Or that “in 1963, there were 284 people who took the test. Last year there were more than 256,000 CFA candidates.” Read the whole thing below, it’s important to understand the environment you’re operating in:

First Mover Alpha (A Wealth Of Common Sense)

Admittedly, this is a high class problem to have, but it still represents a daunting issue that we talk to investors about all the time – let’s say you find yourself with a lump sum in cash and you’re trying to decide how to invest, do you go all in now or piecemeal the money into the markets using dollar cost averaging? We have to walk prospective clients through a version of this conundrum pretty much every month. Finally, some concrete answers based on data – what is the likelihood that lump sum investing at any point in time will do better than DCA?

Nick’s charts really make this discussion come alive, you simply must read it:

How to Invest a Lump Sum (Of Dollars and Data)

And now, some clarity from Michael Batnick: 

It’s important to look at the worst case because returns aren’t guaranteed, but risk is. If you can just find the right-ish mix of stocks and bonds, you can move onto more productive uses of time like trying to advance your career and spending time with friends and family.” Great charts in this one too, showing how simple this could be if we’re willing to accept it:

Un-Complicating Investing (Irrelevant Investor) 

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And if we can help you with your portfolio or financial plan, talk to us here.