Investments

Are we there yet?

Over the past several weeks, much has changed in the tone of the financial press, the economic indicators and the markets. Virtually all of the changes have been positive. The tone has changed from utter doom and gloom to something much more cheerful and, I might add, more balanced. Many economic indicators have become more […]

By Peter Drake |June 3, 2009

5 min read

Diversification is over-rated

If diversification is the only “free lunch” investors have, then what is over-diversifi cation? A sub-par meal at an expensive restaurant? Our industry has gone way too far with the diversifi cation mantra. We have run steadily and without constraint to a point where clients today own hundreds, and in many cases thousands, of stocks […]

By Tom Bradley |June 1, 2009

3 min read

Transforming, not eliminating, risk

One of the great lessons of the current credit crisis is that risk is indestructible. When capital is invested in a long-term asset, risk exists, since the asset will provide value to its owner over a long period, while involving non-trivial acquisition costs. Investment in long-term assets necessarily involves forecasting, and the vagaries of forecasting […]

By James I. Hymas |June 1, 2009

7 min read

Equities vs. bonds

As the last vestiges of a rather cold winter come to an end, I wonder if the chilling price drops in equity markets may at long last be ready for recovery. At the end of February 2009, the S&P 500 index was 50% below where it was in March 2000. Since then, March came in […]

By John Nicola |June 1, 2009

4 min read