By: Matt Garrott As a whisky (whiskey here in the States) matures, it loses about 2% of its volume to evaporation each year.  Distilleries call this The Angels’ Share.  They fill oak casks with a precious liquid knowing that each year part of their hard work will simply disappear.  I can’t help but think of [...]

By: Matt Garrott The 2016 Harvard Management Company Annual Endowment Report is out.  What was once a great write-up about the cutting edge of investment management now serves as a warning that every investor can learn from.  The endowment’s fixation on keeping up with the Joneses (Yale and Stanford, especially) has led to [...]

By: Matt Garrott What do you remember most about the markets over the last 12 months or so? Was it the big drawdown in the first quarter?  Brexit?  Maybe the flash crash from a year ago?  How did you feel during each of these supposedly world-ending crises and how do you feel now [...]

By: Matt Garrott What is the most important action an investor can take? Sometimes it is taking no action at all.  We were recently pitched a hot new hedge fund.  It is run by an eclectic genius (aren’t they all?), has good performance, and the client base is of such a pedigree that [...]

By: Matt Garrott It’s been over a year since the S&P hit its all-time high. The market has been going sideways.  From February 16th, 2015 through May 31st, 2016, the S&P 500 has returned 0%.  Investors have earned nothing.  Or have they? While the market returned “0%” from point to point, savvy investors [...]

by: Dan Gaugler Here’s the background story leading up to our recent recapitalization. In 1992 I wrote a business plan (as an MBA class assignment) for a fictional Fairway Financial Group. Explaining the A- grade, the professor wrote: “a comprehensive, if not completely believable plan. The market(ing) assumptions stretch credibility.” In 1997 at [...]

  By: Matt Garrott Sometimes I wish we had a complex, proprietary, super-secret investment method. I would fit in much better with my peers at investment conferences.  I could give vague responses to questions, “Well I don’t want to give too much away, but…” as if our competitors have the room bugged just [...]

  By: Matt Garrott The first quarter of 2016 must have been inspired by March, roaring in like a lion and going out like a lamb. The year started off terribly with an immediate market correction of 10.3% for the S&P 500.  About halfway through the quarter, the market turned around and appropriately [...]

By: Matt Garrott Berkshire Hathaway recently released Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders and it is required reading if you have any interest in investing, stocks, money, folksy wisdom, talking lizards, or deeply discounted furniture.  Really, just do yourself a favor and read the letter. This month’s Tip From the Pro on our [...]

By: Matt Garrott “With the market in turmoil, what should I do?” During any market correction, investors often ask: “with the market in turmoil, what should I do?” This question implies that you can actually control your returns independent of the markets and that you should be constantly buying and selling in reaction [...]