In his previous column, Brad addressed questions related to the theoretical aspects of market efficiency and active manager performance. In this second of his three-column series on active vs. passive investing, he explores the challenges of implementing these strategies in the real world. The previous column in this series focused on some theoretical aspects of [...]

Bradley G. Steiman is Director, Head of Canadian Financial Advisor Services  and Vice President for Dimensional Fund Advisors Canada ULC. This is the first of a three part interview series on the age old debate of Active vs Passive investment strategies. Q: If an active manager can gather information and gain insight or knowledge through [...]

There are probably as many perceptions of what a financial Advisor is, or should be, as there are people who hire them. Let me take a little time and a few pixels to comment about this. For those who value an Advisor for their ability to deliver positive investment returns year after year, irrespective of [...]

James L. Davis, Vice President, Dimensional Fund Advisors Investors are concerned about inflation, and rightly so. Average annual inflation in the US between 1929 and 2008 was nearly 3.3%. A dollar at the end of 2008 had about the same purchasing power as eight cents did at the beginning of 1929. Protecting the purchasing power [...]

Sir John Templeton is quoted as saying, “The best time to invest is when there is blood in the streets.” Of course, he was speaking metaphorically. His statement is very applicable to our circumstances today. Many would say we are in the trough of this recession. The trough doesn’t mean the “bottom of the market”, [...]

A Private Equity (PE) investment firm can purchase the interests of retiring, inactive or disgruntled family shareholders and allow remaining family members to retain control. There are well over 100 different tools, techniques, strategies, tactics and combinations thereof that enable successful business owners to manage their wealth in accord with their values and goals. Discovering [...]

Eugene Fama, The Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, sat down with Dean Edward Snyder and an audience at the Chicago Booth Management Conference for an informal discussion about financial markets. He discussed common questions on the efficient markets hypothesis, the credit crisis, and [...]

This recent extremely volatile stock market has gotten many near retirees wondering about their future and how they can safely invest for their retirement. Many, like their grandparents following the Great Depression, are thinking they will not hold stocks. They are too volatile and risky. Savings accounts, Savings Bonds and maybe Treasury Bills will do [...]

The National Center for Policy Analysis has just released a report titled, “Ten Ways to Wreck Your Retirement.” I would have to say a big AMEN to their analysis in this paper. I have listed below the Executive Summary of the ten points. If you would like to read the entire 24 page report, you [...]