2013
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“No Man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session” -Mark Twain Over the past week, Neil and I have received many questions about the government shutdown and impending debt ceiling and how they might affect the markets. So we thought we would share with you a quick summary of what…
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We at Canal Capital Management are big believers in ETFs, otherwise known as Exchange Traded Funds, because of their salient characteristics: cheap, tax efficient, intra-day trading, index replicating, etc., But just like with any investment product, they are not all created equal. Due diligence is required when investing in any ETF. At our firm, we…
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Over the past week, I have had several clients mention the recent PBS Frontline special, “The Retirement Gamble” (Retirement Gamble). I have also read several negative comments from my industry regarding the piece. After finally finding the time to watch it this morning, I believe it was honest and well done. It is refreshing to…
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The general idea about inflation we are taught is that the greater the supply of money, the less a single dollar is worth, and the prices for the goods we buy should rise. This simple model usually holds true, yet policies by the Federal Reserve over the past five years have substantially increased the supply…
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People have long viewed bonds as a relatively risk free asset class, and who could blame them; since 1983, the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index has had an 8.1% average annual compound rate of return. During that period, it suffered only 3 negative years, with -2.9% being its worst. With interest rates inevitably rising, these numbers…
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One of the things we harp on at our firm is abiding by a fiduciary standard. This standard compels us to always act in the best interest of our clients. In our business, that means recommending investments that we believe will best achieve a client’s goals regardless of how transacting in those investments effects our…
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Rebalanced is a blog about investing and life. If one understands the former, it has the potential to enhance the quality of the latter. Wall Street is crowded with conflicts, uncertainties and mistrust. The objective of this blog is to educate investors in a manner that is understandable.
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When we began using ETFs several years ago in our portfolios, we had no idea the size and power of the wave we were catching. At the time we were using Modern Portfolio Theory and calculating optimal asset allocation using historical index return data. We then picked managers we hoped (yes, hoped) would outperform those…