Four Years After AIG, Wall Street Back to its Old Tricks
> My Sunday Washington Post Business Section column is out. This morning, we look at the JPM debacle: Has the Economy been made safe from Wall Street? The short answer is not very. The print version had the full headline Four short years after AIG, Wall Street is back to its old tricks (The online version...
Mutual Funds and Managers to Avoid
The mutual funds and managers to avoid Barry Ritholtz Washington Post, May 4 2012 How are your retirement investments doing these days? For many people, that’s a loaded question. U.S. markets are up more than 100 percent from their 2009 lows, yet many investors are not thrilled by their returns. That’s quite...
Mutual Funds & Managers to Avoid
> My Sunday Washington Post Business Section column is out. This morning, we look at The mutual funds and managers to avoid. Both the print and online versions shared the same headline. Here’s an excerpt from the column: “Many factors determine how well your investment returns do. The big ones are (1) how your holdings...
Where Sea Monsters Live
Last weekend, I got into — or more like watched — an interesting finance debate related to specific policies, websites, officials and analysts. All the usual suspects were covered. One person went on and on about central-bank planned economies, manipulated currencies, debasing of the dollar, gold, HFT, etc. “Its all a Ponzi scheme” he declared,...
Hey Old Man! The future isn’t grim
On Investing: The future isn’t grim, and it belongs to young entrepreneurs Barry Ritholtz Washington Post On these pages, I have cast a rather skeptical eye on all matters financial. I have mocked the housing recovery calls, critiqued the valuation of Facebook, despised the robo-signing settlement, urged caution on the Black Friday retail hype....
Step aside, old man. Let imagination lead the way.
> My Sunday Washington Post Business Section column is (belatedly) up online. This afternoon, we look at the next generation of tech entrepreneurs Step aside, old man. Let moxie and imagination lead the way. The online version was the conservative On Investing: The future isn’t grim, and it belongs to young entrepreneurs; the print print version...
The Future of America
One of the things I have taught myself to do over the years was to think in different time frames. This includes very long geological epochs and astronomical eons. Maybe it was an interest in dinosaurs and astronomy as a kid, but historical time frames was a concept I was familiar with. Perhaps that was the...
Spring brings signs of hope and renewal — except in the housing market
Spring brings signs of hope and renewal — except in the housing market Barry Ritholtz Washington Post April 7, 10:02 AM ~~~ Ahhh, winter is finally over. Each year about this time, flowers push up through the soil, trees begin to bud — and the stories about a real estate recovery appear. Am I...
Trading vs Investing (and Today’s Bounce)
click for updated futures > Let’s not mince words: Yesterday’s market action – down 1.75% on heavier volume — was a shellacking: DJIA 12715.93 -213.66 -1.65% Nasdaq 2991.22 -55.86 -1.83% S&P 500 1358.59 -23.61 -1.71% We are now rather oversold, and are due for a bounce. What I want to look at is the quality of...
Spring’s Eternal Optimism – except in Housing
> My Sunday Washington Post Business Section column is out. This morning, we look at the annual premature housing recovery. The print version had the full headline The eternal optimism of spring — except in housing; the online version had the longer Spring brings signs of hope and renewal — except in the housing market)....
Complexity, Context, Probability & Bias
No one seems to remember the second part of Occam’s razor as rumored1 to be stated by Albert Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” That is an issue I am encountering quite frequently these days. We see it in discussions about markets, politics, sports, economics, indeed, just about any...
