News & Insights

In the early pages of her most recent book, Beaverland, Leila Philip writes “The conversion of natural resources into power has always been the propelling force of empires.” Knowing a little about early American history, I assumed the book’s narrative would largely be an examination of the fur trade as a key driver to our […]

Morningstar.com recently published an article, “12 Lessons the Market Taught Investors in 2023,” that explores some of the big picture teachings from an interesting year. Here are a couple themes we want to highlight. The first is that it’s really hard to predict what is going to happen and how those events will impact financial […]

The 401(k) has become a retirement savings institution—over half of civilian workers have one. But the government might not want to keep paying for the advantaged tax treatment it currently allows. For some quick context, 401(k)s are a “defined contribution” plan, where the employee contributes x% of salary in the current year and the employer […]

This is how The Economist put it in a recent article. Apple will most likely have a long and bright future, but most of its products will be more fleeting. They will come and go. Remember the Apple II computer and the original Mac? They are in the dustbin of history now or selling on […]

Social Security’s fragile state is hardly news. Its Trustees’ most recent annual report issued back in March 2023 showed that the Social Security Trust fund (technically the OASI fund which backs retirement but not disability benefits) will run out of money by 2033. While this is certainly not good news, it is important to point […]

This is how Seth Klarman, the well-known Boston investor, describes value investing. Benjamin Graham pioneered value investing with the publication of Security Analysis in 1934. His style emphasizes rigorous fundamental analysis of a company to determine its real value independent of its stock market price, waiting for an entry level that ensures a margin of […]

Over the past decade, a diversified portfolio of U.S. stocks has returned about twice as much as an equivalent portfolio of international stocks. That’s an exceptionally long period of exceptional U.S. outperformance — an absolute trouncing. But like many others, we wonder how much longer this can go on. There are legitimate reasons for the […]

At a time when U.S. pessimism is running high, Joseph Nye provides a good reminder: America still has plenty going for it. In a recent article for Project Syndicate (“American Greatness and Decline”), the Harvard professor and foreign policy expert pushes back against the perception that America’s greatest days are behind it. While it may […]

January is a good month to talk about personal finance. Many people are looking to turn over a new leaf and get motivated about finances. But on January 1, Intuit, which owns a popular free budgeting app, Mint, decided to close the service. Warren Buffett likes to say about investment, “it’s simple, but not easy.” […]

Of course, there are the rest of us here at H+D too, and it would be an injustice not to mention the contributions that each of us makes. Here is a quick recap of who does what day in and day out: Alex Watson is a senior portfolio manager and Investment Committee member, where he […]

Warren Buffett once advised, hang out with people who are better than you: “Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.” Of course, we couldn’t agree more. It’s the people you work with that make you better. That’s why we’re excited to introduce three recent arrivals at H+D […]

Federal Reserve efforts to tame inflation through steady interest rate increases seem to be having their desired effect. But the last two years have been tough on investors with both stock and bond prices experiencing unprecedented levels of volatility. Against this backdrop, it is no wonder that money market funds have gained broad appeal. Last […]