Ten Wall Street Pick-up Lines to Avoid

“If your proposed marriage contract has 47 pages, I suggest you not enter.” This quote by Charles Munger hammers home the role of trust in an investment relationship. Michael Kitces of Nerds Eye View wrote a post entitled “What is the philosophy of your financial planning firm? It deals with what an advisor doesn’t believe…

What We Think… We Become

This quote from Buddha succinctly summarizes the all-important psychological component of investing. While the term “mental toughness” is a term more recognizable in professional sports, it is also a critical aspect of a successful investment process. In professional sports, teams get to keep their trophies. Unless you are a little league team from Chicago, championships…

What’cha talkin ’bout Willis??

“Each fund’s returns are adjusted for 12b-1 fees, which are used for marketing and distribution expenses. Funds typically factor these into returns to better reflect what investors would see after these annual fees have been deducted. But our aim is to measure the manager’s skill, uncomplicated by expenses. Fund loads or sales charges, aren’t included…

On Second Thought, You Should Invest Like Pete Carroll

Like everyone else last Sunday, I was screaming like an orangutan on amphetamines at the t.v., “How could you not unleash the beast from the one yard line??” Pete Carroll instantly transformed himself into the “stupid” Rob Lowe from those cheesy commercials! After some reflection, I have changed my mind. Investors can learn a great…

Any advisor who can be replaced by a computer, should be

“To all of those people and firms criticizing the Robo-Advisors…If you think you can do better prove it.” Ben Carlson nails it in his post The Robo-Advisor Challenge Many advisors fear these insurgents. Advisors charging 1.25% AUM fees (assets under management); packing clients into proprietary or incentive-laden funds; and providing no financial planning services should…

SELF- The most important ticker symbol

“The key to financial success isn’t saving, but investing in your own future production.” Cullen Roche This quote from the book Pragmatic Capitalism has enormous ramifications to investors at every stage. What Mr. Roche is trying to say is: Investing in yourself is the wisest choice a person can make and will provide the highest…

Grab the phone from that Imbecile! Tales of FX trading

All of the madness this week dealing with Swiss Franc mayhem brought back my memories of the insane world of FX Trading. I chuckle when I hear ads on the radio talking about doing this from home to supplement your income. If the definition of supplement is losing all of your money, these ads are…

Veni, Vidi, Vinci: Investing lessons from Julius Caesar

“I came, I saw, I conquered.” This famous quote is attributed to one of the greatest military minds the world has ever seen: Julius Caesar. While Caesar lived centuries ago, lessons from his conquests can be directly applied to the Game of Thrones-like modern world of investing. Vidi, I came. Julius Caesar conquered lands stretching…