April 2013

Rob Arnott vs Jack Bogle on Fundamentally-Weighted Indexes

Two of my investing heroes are engaged in a bit of a battle over whether or not an investor should use so-called fundamentally-weighted indexes. It’s Rob Arnott, the father of the approach, versus Jack Bogle, a pioneer of the older way of indexing. The “smart index” approach, which I like, is sometimes referred to as…

Short-Covering or the Biggest Average-Down in History

One of two things is going on in the gold futures and options market – either the Billionaire Bagholders Club™ is doubling down or the shorts are taking profits from the recent plunge. Here’s Bloomberg: Hedge funds increased bets on gold rallying after prices plunged the most in 33 years, underscoring billionaire John Paulson’s view that bullion…

Do the work once, get paid forever

Seth hits on something really important for enterprising young men and women and for those building investment portfolios – why not seek the type of assets that continue to pay? Do work and get paid once. Build an asset and get paid for as long as it lasts. A retailer or a restaurant owner might…

What Now for Bond Investors? Pros Weigh In at Morningstar

The other day I relayed Jeff Gundlach’s answer to the rhetorical question on everyone’s lips these days, why own any bonds at all? You can read my detailed notes on how he answered this question here: Notes from the DoubleLine Lunch with Jeffrey Gundlach, Spring 2013 In addition, Jason Stipp has a phenomenal round-up of…

that VICE show on HBO is cray

Can I just tell you that the new VICE show on HBO is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen on television? The premise is that, here in the 21st century, the world has never been more dangerous and screwed up than it is now – despite globalization and technological advances (or maybe…