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Short Takes: Warren Buffett as Poster Child and more

1. Preet thinks that Warren Buffett is not a poster child for active management. I agree that Buffett’s approach doesn’t bear much resemblance to the typical actively-managed mutual fund. However, Buffett is an active manager in the broad sense that he doesn’t own the index. I think Buffett’s approach is the only one that has a hope of consistently outperforming. I don’t have the skill, but it is conceivable that some investors can see that a given company has above-average long-term prospects. This seems more plausible than believing that some people can anticipate short-term moves without inside information.

2. Potato wrote an excellent review of Benoit Mandelbrot’s book, The Misbehavior of Markets.

3. Mike at Money Smarts thinks that now is a good time to start leveraged investing. What if it isn’t a good time?

4. Ever wondered how an expensive restaurant menu item can affect you even if you don’t order it? The story of the $69 hot dog explains it. 

5. Big Cajun Man’s Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) saga continues. It seems that bank and government systems are not overly prepared for the RDSP.

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