Book Review: The Paradox of Debt
The Paradox of Debt: A New Path to Prosperity without Crisis. 2023. Richard Vague. University of Pennsylvania Press. In 2004, Vice President Dick Cheney drew no small amount of derision…
Harvesting Equity Premia in Emerging Markets: A Four-Step Process
Until recently, emerging market (EM) equities were among the darlings of the investing world. And why not? To most investors, a potentially diversifying asset class with prospects for high returns…
Steve Blank Leaving Government for the Private Sector – Part 1
Laura Thomas is a former CIA operations officer. Reading how she moved in 2021 from CIA ops into a quantum technology company offered insightful career transition advice for those leaving…
Portfolio Confidential: Five Common Client Concerns
For the past three years, I’ve written a monthly column for Canadian MoneySaver called “Portfolio Confidential” that answers various investor questions. Some of these I receive from emails, but most…
Private Capital: Lessons from the Conglomerate Era
Global private capital firms are charting a well-traveled course. With their sprawling empires, the largest alternative asset managers have adopted strategies that borrow extensively from the octopus-like corporate conglomerate business…
A Mixed Outlook? The Banking Sector and Its Three Key Drivers
The latest earnings results for banks include words like “record,” “outstanding,” and “doubles.” So far, 2023 has been a banner year for the sector, at least from an earnings perspective.…
The Alpha Capture Ratio: Rising Interest Rates Mean Pricier Alpha
The rapid ascent of the federal funds rate from near 0% in 2022 to a 15-year high of 5.25% in July 2023 presents both an opportunity for hedge funds’ expected…
ChatGPT and Large Language Models: Syntax and Semantics
For more on artificial intelligence (AI) in investment management, check out The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Applications in Investments, by Larry Cao, CFA, from the CFA Institute Research Foundation.…
The Auto Sector’s Green Transition: Three Roads to Lower Returns?
Three investment return trends related to the green transition concern me. These apply across all sectors but to automotive in particular. Here is how I see it. 1. Pricing is…
Small Caps: Party Like It’s 2000?
The legendary musician Prince exhorted us to “Party like it’s 1999,” but today, as a small-cap stock investor, I’d flip the calendar one year ahead, to 2000. That’s because by…
