I am a risk manager first, and a profit maker second.  I tend not to trust solutions that are “magic bullets” unless there is some barrier to entry — why can you do it, and few ot...

I have had a number of posts on liquidity over the past few years, in an attempt to explain an ill-understood phenomenon.  Here is a sampling: What is Liquidity? (one of my first posts) What is Li...

1)  You hear me talk about this more than most, but liquidity risk needs more emphasis.  This is true whether you are a retail or institutional investor.  As the old saying goes, “Only ...

Analyzing currencies is weird, and most people don’t get it.  Sometimes, I think I don’t get it.  There is nothing fixed in our economic world, no fixed measure of value.  Everyth...

What makes a good ETF in the long term?  My, what a question, driven by the ETFs challenging the limits of what is prudent.  Maybe it is easier to start with what makes a bad ETF, then: Headlin...

I have a bunch of pieces “ganged up” to go on real estate, international economics, government policies, market risks, and a book review on “Think Twice,” but tonight the topic...

I have never liked using MPT for calculating the cost of equity capital for two reasons: Beta is not a stable parameter; also, it does not measure risk well. Company-specific risk is significant...