Jason Zweig at the Wall Street Journal published a disturbing article that deserves more attention. The basic story is this. A number of banks sold a complex financial product to retail investors who have subsequently lost quite a bit of money. Here is the basic pitch that was apparently made to individual investors in 2012. You are going to buy an investment product that is currently invested in bonds and is producing 8% in income per year. The performance of this product is tied to the stock price of Apple, however. In exchange for the high income, you take on the risk of a decline in Apple’s stock price. These products were sold when Apple stock was soaring, so a fair number of people apparently saw this as a favorable bet. With the stock down more than 30% from its peak, many of these investors have lost a considerable amount of money. Read Zweig’s piece for more details. These products have a number of variations and he discusses one specific structure. Here is another. The title of Zweig’s article, How Apple Bit Bondholders, Too, gives the impression that bonds were responsible for these losses. This is not the case, but the title serves to illustrate the subtlety of the problem. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Risk’ Category
The Strange Case of Apple Stock and Structured Products
Posted in Bonds, Investors, Risk, Scams, Volatility, tagged Apple, Apple structured notes, CDs, derivative instrument, Jason Zweig, reverse convertible bond, structured products on February 5, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
The Yield Paradox
Posted in Asset Allocation, Bonds, Dividends, Risk, Stock Investing, tagged Corporate Bonds, junk bonds, Master Limited Partnerships, MLPs, Monte Carlo Simulation, mortgage reits, Municipal Bonds, Quantitative Easing, Treasury bonds, yield paradox on January 31, 2013 | 2 Comments »
I have been struggling to understand a problem that I am going to refer to as the ‘yield paradox.’ Yields for individual asset classes look low. The 10-year Treasury bond is yielding about 1.9%, and 30-year Treasury bonds are yielding a similarly paltry 3%. The S&P 500 is yielding 2.1%, which is very low by comparison to historical levels. Investment-grade corporate bond indexes are yielding less than 4% (see LQD, for example, at 3.8%). Given that the official rate of inflation for 2012 was 1.7%, these yields mean that investors are getting very little yield net of inflation. The very low yields on bonds and on stock indexes is a direct result of the Fed’s actions in holding interest rates at historical lows via Quantitative Easing. We have not yet gotten to the paradox. (more…)
Target Date Strategies Over The Last Five Years
Posted in 401(k), Asset Allocation, Diversification, Long-term investing, Mutual Funds, pensions, Retirement, Risk, tagged glidepath, pension protection act, retirement plan participants, risk targets, Target Date Folios, Target Date Funds, target percentage, traditional target on January 29, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
The intent of target date strategies is to provide investors with fully-diversified portfolios that evolve appropriately as investors age. Target date funds have enjoyed enormous growth over recent years, not least because the Pension Protection Act of 2006 allows employers to direct retirement plan participants into these funds as the default investment option. Consultancy Casey Quirk projects that target date funds will hold almost half of all assets in 401(k) plans by 2020.
Target Date Folios are an alternative to traditional target date funds, launched on the Folio Investing platform in December of 2007. These portfolios now have more than five years of performance history. Prior to the design of the Folios, a detailed analysis of target date funds suggested that they could be considerably improved. The Folios were designed to provide investors with an enhanced target date solution. In this article, I will discuss the design and performance of the Folios and target date mutual funds over this tumultuous period. The risk and return characteristics of these funds and Folios provides insight into the effectiveness of different approaches to portfolio design and diversification. (more…)
Folio Investing Celebrates Its Target Date Folios’ Five-Year Record of Outperformance
Posted in Diversification, ETFs, Investors, Long-term investing, Low Cost Investing, Regular Investing, retirement planning, Risk, Uncategorized, Volatility, tagged diversification strategy, folios, fund performance, Retirement Investing, risk targeting, target date, Target Date Folios, Target Date Funds on January 24, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Folio Investing’s Successful ETF-Based Alternative to Legacy Target-Date Funds Offers Superior Diversification, Risk Targeting and Flexibility; Firm Seeks Distribution Partner to Broaden Availability
Folio Investing announced today that, over the five years since they were brought to market in December 2007, its Target Date Folios have significantly outperformed traditional target-date funds. The Folios have provided both higher returns and lower volatility than the competing funds during this tumultuous period. (more…)
Apple’s Share Price and Behavioral Finance
Posted in Behavioral Finance, Bonds, Dividends, Risk, Stock Investing, tagged Apple, Behavioral Finance, IPO, market price, risk capital, shareholders on January 16, 2013 | 2 Comments »
The price of a share of Apple (AAPL) is almost 30% below the high that it set back in September 2012—about five months ago. Even before its peak, the price of Apple shares had already made it the most valuable company in history. In those heady times, Apple shares reached $702. Today, they are at $503. Even today, however, Apple remains the largest single holding in the S&P 500 at about 3.6% of the total index. It is mind boggling to consider that the market value of the most valuable public firm in history could decline by 30% in five months, without some sort of catastrophic event. But this is the situation and there are some lessons to be drawn. (more…)
A Thoughtful Outlook for 2013
Posted in Bonds, Dividends, Global Investing, Inflation, Market Outlook, Risk, tagged Corporate Bonds, dividend yield, emerging bond market, equities, global money management, inflation risk, Jason Hsu, market forecast, outlook, P/E, predictions, price-to-earnings on January 11, 2013 | 1 Comment »
In general, I ignore the spate of market predictions that experts issue at the start of each year. There are exceptions, and after reading Jason Hsu’s outlook for this year, I am pleased to recommend it to readers. Dr. Hsu is the Chief Investment Officer at global money management firm, Research Affiliates. I found his article both insightful and appropriately skeptical of all forecasts. How can you not appreciate a money manager who starts his prediction for the year ahead with John Galbraith’s quip that “the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable”?
I am going to mention a few of the elements of Hsu’s outlooks and add some thoughts. Hsu first examines the drivers for bonds and then equities. I will follow this structure. (more…)
Getting Help in Choosing and Managing a Portfolio
Posted in 401(k), Asset Allocation, Diversification, Financial Advisors, financial planning, Investors, Long-term investing, Low Cost Investing, Portfolio Investing 101, retirement planning, Risk, tagged individual retirement accounts, investment advice, IRAs, online brokers, self-directed investing, Target Date Funds on December 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
There is currently $5 Trillion invested in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), $4.7 Trillion invested in self-directed retirement plans provided by employers (401(k), 457, and 403(b) plans), and $2.3 Trillion invested in traditional pension plans offered by private companies. These numbers are stunning for a number of reasons. First, self-directed retirement plans (IRAs, 401(k)’s, etc.) dramatically dwarf the amounts invested in traditional pensions. This is part of a long-term trend, as employers move away from traditional pensions, but the magnitude of the shift is striking. With the assets in IRA’s surpassing the $5 Trillion mark earlier this year, the amount of money in individual accounts is moving ahead of employer-sponsored plans. What’s more, it is anticipated that IRA’s will continue to grow relative to employer-sponsored plans as people retire and roll their savings from their ex-employer’s plan into an IRA. This matters because investors in IRA’s have even less help in creating and maintaining their portfolios than investors in employer-sponsored plans. (more…)
Investing for Income vs. Total Return
Posted in Bonds, Dividends, Income Investing, Long-term investing, retirement planning, Risk, tagged bond yield, Larry Swedroe, longevity risk on December 10, 2012 | 2 Comments »
One of the most-discussed issues in long-term investing is whether to focus on income generation or simply to think in term of total return (price gains plus income). The discussion of this topic often focuses on whether investors should seek out stocks that pay dividends vs. simply planning to sell a fraction of their portfolio periodically to provide income. I recently wrote a long article on this topic, which has been cited in a very interesting discussion of this theme going on at Bogleheads. One of the most active participants in the debate on the Bogleheads forum and elsewhere is Larry Swedroe, a well-known advisor and author. As I read the Bogleheads discussion thread, it strikes me that there is considerable confusion around this topic, so I thought I would add a few more thoughts. (more…)
What Are the Core Asset Classes for Total Return Portfolios?
Posted in Asset Allocation, Bonds, Commodities, Diversification, ETFs, Inflation, Investors, Risk, Stock Investing, tagged Corporate Bonds, emerging market stocks, Emerging Markets, equity energy, fixed income, gold, government bonds, investing strategy, Municipal Bonds, real estate investment trusts, REITs, stock market index, TIPS, Utility stocks on November 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »
One of the most important questions for investors and advisors is identifying a set of asset classes that will be considered for inclusion in a portfolio. Some people will decide that all they need or want is one broad stock market index fund and one bond fund. Others will choose to include Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and commodities. There are well-thought-out arguments that inflation-protected government bonds (TIPS) are a major core asset class. It is also quite common for investors or advisors to break stocks out into value vs. growth and small cap vs. large cap. (more…)
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