Timing the market is the holy grail of investing. On one hand, traders try to time the market opportunistically to achieve higher returns. On the other, many portfolio managers try to sidestep bad market conditions to lower the risk of the portfolio. The effect of compounding can make this a worthwhile practice, as seen in the table below: When you lose 50% on an investment, you need 100% gain to... READ MORE

Another decade came to a close last year. I thought it would be interesting to compare the last decade to the previous four decades. The table below shows returns for 5 primary asset classes and a globally balanced 60% stock/40% bond portfolio. For each decade the highest returning asset class is at the top while the lowest returning is at the bottom. A few observations: Stock returns across... READ MORE