Investing, in the final analysis, is a matter of faith. This, I think, is an important fundamental to understand. I am not writing of “blind faith.” Nor, necessarily, religious faith. It is my conviction that there is no such thing as blind faith. If a person acts blindly, it is not out of faith; it [...]

The first two columns in this series by Brad Steiman offered answers to frequently asked questions about active vs. passive investing, and explored a general set of ideas around market efficiency. The main purpose has been to help build a framework for educating clients on the debate. There are other good reasons to approach the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. of Minneapolis has agreed to pay $17.3 million to settle charges that it received nearly $31 million in undisclosed compensation for selling its brokerage customers real estate investment trusts between 2000 and 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced today… “Few things are more important to investors than getting unbiased advice [...]

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 [...]

For the past two decades I have been involved in the Financial Advice business. One thing has held steady the entire time. Every client has asked that “education” be a part of the business relationship. Most of us didn’t have any meaningful real life education about how to invest or how to manage wealth, or [...]