Every five years, the East Asia Institute surveys South Koreans on whether they view North Korea as “one of us,” “a brother,” “a neighbor,” “an enemy” or “other.” In 2005, 51% of South Koreans said they saw North Korea as “a brother” while only 15% selected “enemy.” But by 2015, 41% of South Koreans said […]
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The 2-Minute Thought: Learning to Listen Better
People are terrible listeners. An oft-cited statistic is that we spend 60% of conversation time listening to others but can only remember 25% of what is said. In an article on what they call the “Plateau Effect,” Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson wrote that half the adults asked to sit through a 10-minute oral presentation […]
We Are All Optimists on This Bus…
As you can see from the chart below Wall Street is a pretty optimistic place. The lines show what analysts were estimating for corporate profits at the beginning of each year versus how they turned out. Over thirty years of tracking these numbers only twice have the S&P 500 companies delivered earnings higher than first […]
The State of Your Wallet…
There are some truisms in America we hold dear. One is we see ourselves as a land of opportunity where if you work hard enough you can be a success. A second is that each generation will do better than the last. If you were born in 1940 there was about a 90% chance that […]
Is There Free Money in Closed-End Funds?…
One of the great unanswered questions in the field of investments is why closed-end mutual funds can trade at a persistent discount to their net asset value. This is the famous “closed-end fund puzzle” — what Burton Malkiel of Random Walk fame once called “one of the most enduring conundrums in the field of finance.” […]
It’s a Different Ballgame Now…
On March 15th, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight lending rate a quarter point to a range of 0.75%-1.0%. The increase, together with a 0.25% bump last December, represents quite a shift. With a few brief exceptions, interest rates have been on a downward path since 1980. Markets have taken the Fed’s latest effort […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Where Do Great Investment Ideas Come From?
When experienced investors are asked where they get their ideas, they often say voracious reading or careful screening of companies for characteristics they like – or both. But there is wide variety in what they read – and widely divergent attitudes toward screening. Other sources of ideas include company visits, building expertise in obscure fields […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Does the Dwindling Number of U.S Stocks Matter?
In a recent paper called “The Incredible Shrinking Universe of Stocks,” Michael Mauboussin, Dan Callahan, and Darius Majd at Credit Suisse delve into why there has been such a sharp drop in the number of publicly traded stocks in the U.S. This is a U.S. phenomenon. In developed markets outside the U.S., the number of […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Hope for Europe
Suddenly, people are talking positively about Europe again. How fickle we are. Since the Great Recession, European stocks have underperformed those in the U.S., and the eurozone has been sieged by crisis and gloom. In contrast, the U.S. has been a star – and especially since the election, we haven’t been able to stop talking […]
Anne Doremus Invited to Judge CFA Institute Research Challenge
The CFA Society of Vermont hosted their first Local Research Challenge on February 8, 2017. The Challenge, sponsored by Champlain College, brings students from four Vermont colleges, investment professionals, and others together to work on company analysis and presentation skills. Anne Doremus served on the panel of judges for this Challenge. The case subject […]
Eric Hanson’s Investment Course is Offered at UVM
Eric Hanson is teaching a course, Personal Finance and Investing, through the Grossman School of Business at the University of Vermont during the Spring semester of 2017. This is an elective class open to the entire campus and described below. Description: It has been said that Economics is about “the allocation of scarce resources”. This is […]
Global Family Enterprise Case Competition at UVM
Anne Doremus returned to the annual Family Enterprise Case Competition (FECC) as a coach in 2017. The competition was held at the University of Vermont through the Grossman School of Business on January 12-14. While the FECC prepares participants to understand the issues unique to family enterprise, coaches play a critical role in facilitating the application […]
