Blog
The Fiduciary Standard: Should Such a Good Idea Become the Law?
What kind of responsibility do you expect from a financial advisor? Most people would answer that question with any of a number of qualities: honesty, integrity, experience, knowledge, education, and so forth. As far as the main industry regulatory bodies are...
When Rising Interest Rates Indicate Economic Growth
As the Fed ratchets down QE (the “taper”), we’ve been scouring bank financial statements for a clue as to the likely impact, including the eventual return to normalized interest rates. We use JP Morgan as a case study, because it’s a decent proxy for the large bank...
Is Your Estate Plan in Order?
According to one survey, nearly half of all Americans may lack a basic estate plan. A prevailing misconception is that estate planning benefits only the ultra-wealthy and that a person’s assets will naturally go to her “next of kin.” However, that may not be the...
Conversation with Management: Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBGI)
We spoke with Sinclair Sr. Vice President & Treasurer, Lucy Rutishauser, after the company’s 4Q13 conference call this past Wednesday. The stock had traded off roughly 30% between the beginning of the year and earnings release, before closing at $26.34 on...
Does Global Asset Allocation Work?
The practice of allocating investment dollars among different “asset classes” (e.g., small cap, large cap, international, etc.) is commonplace among financial advisors. Asset allocation has well-established academic roots, though academics tend to define risk...