A few weeks back, a reader—let’s call him Karl—challenged me with a question. Why, he asked, do I not recommend momentum investment strategies? If you’re not familiar with the term, momentum strategies seek to buy stocks that have done well in the past, with the hope that they will continue rising, [...]
I'll never forget my first interaction with Wall Street. I was in my early 20s, just getting started in my career, when I was introduced to a stockbroker—let's call him Eddie. He was a pleasant fellow with a good reputation and all of the trappings of success, including a DeLorean in the driveway. [...]
A few days ago, when the calendar rolled over into May, I was reminded of a saying I used to hear when I worked in the world of stock-picking: “Sell in May and go away.” The idea—based on questionable data—was that stocks lagged during the summer months. This notion always seemed suspect to me, but [...]
On December 7, 2005, a curious thing happened in a Harvard classroom. Professor Michael D. Smith stood in front of a group of computer science students to introduce a guest speaker: entrepreneur and former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. What was curious was that the room was nearly empty. The [...]
Recently, I came across an academic paper with an attention-grabbing title: “It has been very easy to beat the S&P 500.” Not just easy, but very easy. That got my attention because, in recent years, beating the S&P 500 has been anything but easy. In fact, it's been maddeningly difficult. [...]
