At first glance, a performance-based fee structure does seem to make sense. Incentivizing your advisor to maximize returns has some apparent advantages.And after all, why should you pay a fee when your account is down? Accountability to results is a big part of what we believe here at Cordant. But there are a few reasons why we don’t charge our... Read More
How to overcome emotions and be a better investor
*Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Click here to check out Part 1, where we discussed how emotions can inhibit our ability to make wise investment decisions. To receive helpful posts like this directly to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter! Last time on the Cordant blog, we discussed how emotional responses can derail you... Read More
The cost of emotion: why you make poor investment decisions
*Note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Stay tuned next time on the Cordant blog, where we’ll explore strategies for overcoming your emotions to make more advantageous investment decisions. To receive Part 2 and other helpful posts directly to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter! What if I told you that someone with brain damage is... Read More
The Risks Of Owning Individual Stocks
Should I own an individual stock? This is a question we hear frequently in regards to Intel, given our focus on wealth management for their employees. It also comes up with non-Intel clients who are considering other stocks for their individual or trading accounts. And the answer? According to the research, probably not—for two main reasons: Individual stocks are riskier... Read More
Five Investment Tips to Remember in 2015
Google “2015 predictions” and you’ll get 94 million results—23 million of which are for “2015 investment predictions.” As humans, we’re fanatical about obtaining a sense of control—which means making every effort to predict the future. This makes the New Year the perfect time for all manner of peering into crystal balls. But before you get sucked into the 23 million... Read More
Should Struggling Economies Affect Your Investment Strategy?
As the U.S. economy continues to recover from the 2007–2009 recession, much of the rest of the world is falling back into a recession (or is teetering on the brink). Does this mean that global diversification is a bad investment strategy right now? A Treacherous Economic Landscape To help answer this question, let’s explore an oft-documented period of our own... Read More
Driving in the Rear-View Mirror
"In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable." - Robert Arnott Investing in U.S. stocks over the last five years has been a pretty comfortable experience, with the U.S. stock market again coming in as one of the best markets worldwide in 2014. Whether you look at YTD returns or the last five years, the U.S. stock market has easily... Read More
Three Strategies to Save Money on Taxes
Last month, PIMCO co-founder and financial manager Bill Gross made industry headlines when he announced his departure from the company. Gross had founded the firm in 1971, and grew the PIMCO Total Return Fund to the world’s largest bond fund. While we are not going to comment on his departure, his leaving the fund does highlight one very important area... Read More
What are you optimizing for?
I recently watched a TED Talk by Intel Futurist Brian David Johnson. In the talk, given at TEDx Wall Street, he talks about how we as humans interact with machines—calling their ability to make us healthier, happier and more productive “awesome.” However, his optimism about the future of machines was “shaken to its core” on May 6th, 2010—when the Dow... Read More
What is Investment Integration?
You probably know about asset allocation (the process of selecting what assets to own and in what percentage). And you may have heard of asset location (placing your least tax-efficient assets in tax-deferred accounts). But what the heck is asset (investment) integration? Simply put, investment integration is the process of viewing all assets as a coordinated whole (as opposed to... Read More