Every couple of months I come across an article warning consumers of the perils of timeshares. Simply Google “Are timeshares worth it?,” and you will find dozens of articles and posts on the subject. Most of these articles detail why a timeshare is a “bad investment,” and usually the analysis is correctly assuming the purpose of the purchase is monetary... Read More
“…people always live forever when there is an annuity to be paid them,” or so says Fanny Dashwood, the step-daughter in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. She says this in persuading her husband against making annuity payments to her step mother-in-law. We never find out how the annuity would have worked out for Mrs. Dashwood, but the US government doesn’t... Read More
This past weekend, I had the joy of watching the movie The Sandlot with my 7-year old daughter and 4-year old son. My joy came from my kids laughing at all the moments in the movie that I laughed at the first time I saw it 25 years ago. They particularly enjoyed this scene and learning what a “pickle” is... Read More
For many corporate employees, the accumulation and growth of their employer’s stock over time becomes the source of significant wealth, but with that accumulation and growth the risk that comes along with investment concentration in a single company grows as well. In fact, it is not uncommon at all to review a long-time corporate employee’s balance sheet and find that... Read More
In Part 1, I explained at a high level the mechanics of how Cordant generates a paycheck for clients from their portfolios in retirement. In this “Part 2,” I want to follow up with examples of how we evaluate other available strategies and why we use the “total return” approach described in Part 1. We are continually researching and evaluating... Read More
Last month I wrote a blog post entitled “The best plan you can stick with.” The purpose was to highlight the fact that, an investment strategy that makes all the sense in the world on paper may not be a good strategy if you can’t stick to it when faced with the emotion that comes with the experience of real... Read More
The market downturn this past month reminded me of this podcast that I recently listened to while driving home and the question that followed. During the podcast, Cliff Asness, a well-known hedge fund manager and founder of AQR Capital Management, discussed investment strategies that are based on the historical data and in theory, are very appealing. He joked however, that... Read More
A couple weeks ago, I vacationed with my wife and two kids in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was truly a great vacation, and one where upon returning I felt like I had been gone much longer than a week. But one experience in particular stuck with me as it so poignantly differentiated preparation for an experience from the actual... Read More
“The drama's done. Why then here does any one step forth? — Because one did survive the wreck.” –The narrator, Ishmael, in Herman Mellville’s Moby Dick. If you weren’t concerned about cyber security at the beginning of 2017, my guess is that changed in the time before the New Year. Tracking events like the Equifax hack, understanding their effect, and... Read More
One of the great advantages of being a long-term investor is the luxury of checking out of the daily financial news cycle. Diversification and a long time horizon silences much of the noise. But, whether or not an individual can actually ignore the news cycle and short-term market changes and not react to them is another story. When the news... Read More
