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Wild West Investing In Frontier Markets

August 14, 2014

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Jon

Tales of the wild west were a glamorized version of reality. Stories told of great wealth of land and opportunity, but forgot to mention the hardship, the risks. Frontier markets are much the same.

Frontier markets are a subset of emerging markets. It’s made up of countries in the very early stages of economic development. But it also includes countries with limited stock markets (small number of stocks, shares, and market cap) and small economic footprints. In total, frontier markets make up a sliver of the global market value. Continue Reading…
Happy Hour: Fun With Numbers

August 8, 2014

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Jon

Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.

Fun with Numbers

It’s funny how taste tests always seem to go in Coca Cola’s favor. Unless it’s for Pepsi, then Pepsi wins. Somehow the same number of dentists recommend Crest and Colgate!? And 9 out of 10 doctors always seem to agree too. Your mind thinks 90%, but is it really? Maybe only 10 doctors were asked. And what’s up with that one dissenter?

Advertisers love to throw overwhelming numbers at your face to get you to buy in. This happens with investment products, too – like the battle between index versus managed (active vs. passive) funds. Continue Reading…
Why REITs Performed Great Since 2000

August 7, 2014

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Jon

Some questions and comments popped up about REITs since I introduced the table on asset class returns – why did REITs perform so well the last 15 years? Others saw REITs on top eight out of fifteen years and concluded it must be the best investment going forward (despite me pointing out the failings of that conclusion). I thought I’d find the answer.

From ’00 to ’14, REITs blew away other asset classes with a 12.9% annual return. Before you start drooling over that number, remember how REITs work. While you get those juicy returns, you also get the tax consequences.

REITs avoid a big chunk of corporate taxes by paying out most of its income through dividends. In return, REITs have their own tax rules which are passed down to you (dividends are taxed as ordinary income). Continue Reading…
Happy Hour: Going Global And Spinoffs

August 1, 2014

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Jon

Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.

Going Global

Staying closer to home seems to be an unwritten rule. By only picking U.S. stocks you ignore the rest of the world. You’re also betting that the U.S. will outperform the rest of the world year after year. The table of asset class returns shows it doesn’t work. That should be enough to broaden your investments. Continue Reading…
15 Year Look At Asset Class, Sector, And Country Returns

July 31, 2014

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Jon

Tables comparing investment returns are nothing new. Fund companies and other financial institutions have used them for years to argue for or against different investing ideas. Though, the problem is most tables are either stuck inside a PDF file or quickly become a giant mess of colored tiles that make it hard to read. I thought I’d take the concept, clean it up, and take it a step further.

The idea started about a month ago with an article about contrarian investing. The article took a contrarian look at past performance across three areas – asset class, sectors, and countries. Continue Reading…
Happy Hour: Skill vs. Luck

July 25, 2014

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Jon

Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.

Skill vs. Luck

If you’re a fan of TED Talks, take a look at the Talks at Google channel on Youtube. Google brings in authors, musicians, and other speakers to talk about their books and other topics. There’s been a couple recent videos worth watching on investing. Continue Reading…

Wild West Investing In Frontier Markets

Happy Hour: Fun With Numbers

Fun with Numbers

Why REITs Performed Great Since 2000

Happy Hour: Going Global And Spinoffs

Going Global

15 Year Look At Asset Class, Sector, And Country Returns

Happy Hour: Skill vs. Luck

Skill vs. Luck