SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
OK, I admit I was one of those who tittered when the announcement of his name prompted a chorus of boos in the Olympic Stadium in 2012. But, unlike many, I don’t cringe at the thought of George Osborne. Nor am I, on the whole, particularly anti-Conservative. But, I am frankly, appalled by recent disclosures about the behaviour of our former Chancellor.
I don’t often say this, but I’d like to refer you to the Daily Mail, which, to its credit, has done an excellent job over the last fortnight of explaining quite how shameless George Osborne has been in pursuit of a fast buck.
First, Mail reporter Guy Adams revealed the intimate nature of Osborne’s relationship with BlackRock, the fund management company, during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer. George Osborne, you may have heard has recently taken a part-time job with said fund house for a reported salary of around £200,000.
A former Cabinet minister was quoted as saying: ‘It’s clear that George Osborne has been milking his contacts for all they were worth.”
The fiduciary principle is here to stay
One of this week’s must-read articles is by Jack Bogle in the New York Times.
Although it’s still not clear exactly what the intentions of the Trump Administration are, it seems likely that there will be some attempt to scale back the so-called Fiduciary Rule introduced under President Obama — or at least to reduce its impact on Wall Street. Bogle, rightly, is none too impressed.
Podcast Episode 9: The factor zoo
The latest TEBI Podcast, sponsored by Regis Media, is now online and features Larry Swedroe. Larry has just written his eighth book on investing. It’s called Your Complete to Factor-Based Investing, and it was co-authored with Andrew Berkin.
In this podcast, I ask him:
With more than factors in the so-called “factor zoo” to choose from, has factor-based investing gone too far?
How many factors are there that ordinary investors really need to know about? And what are they?
As more and more investors seek to gain exposure to specific factors, is there a danger that they will cease to outperform? Might we even be seeing a bubble forming?
I sold everything when the Patriots won
As soon as I heard I was straight on the phone to my broker.
“Haven’t you heard? The Patriots won. Sell everything.. What? I know the markets haven’t opened yet, but as soon as they do I want everything gone!”
OK, you’ve got me. I don’t have a broker, and he wouldn’t earn a penny off me if I did. But I wonder how many people have actually chosen to sell today, after New England’s 34-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons?
I’m referring to the so-called Super Bowl Indicator. It was apparently a sportswriter by the name of Leonard Koppett who made the remarkable discovery in the 1970s that if a team from the American Football Conference, or AFC, wins gridiron’s most coveted prize, then a bear market usually follows; but if a team from the National Football Conference, or NFC, comes out on top, then stocks go on a bull run.
Also worth reading
Stop making excuses and make a will (Britt McGinnis)
Why the Bogle Model beats the Yale Model (Ben Carlson)
Does active share predict fund performance? (Larry Swedroe)
Why indexing is far more than “settling for average” (Cullen Roche)
“False beliefs, once established, are incredibly tricky to correct” (Dan Solin)
New all-time highs tell us diddly-squat about future returns (Charles Boinske)
“For long-term investors, market volatility should be irrelevant” (Samantha Azzarello)
“We should prepare for a downturn before it occurs, not after it’s already underway” (Ben Carlson)
New data shows that equity research extracts value from the investment process (Sarah Gordon)
In the US, Vanguard attracted more money in 2016 than all other fund managers combined (Julie Segal)
Robin is a journalist and campaigner for positive change in global investing. He runs Regis Media, a niche provider of content marketing for financial advice firms with an evidence-based investment philosophy. He also works as a consultant to other disruptive firms in the investing sector.
