KIM: Funds set to distribute year-end lumps of coal
Fund investors endured harrowing plunges in 2015. Absent a year-end rally, returns will be disappointingly modest.
Investing Column
Articles
SKARBECK: Investors make emotions their own worst enemy
Investors who can block out the emotional influences that frequently swirl about the markets can significantly improve their investment results.
KIM: Recent market volatility is really rather ordinary
The road to reaching long-term outperformance is bumpy, but that doesn’t make these short-term periods of weakness any easier to take.
SKARBECK: Long term, inflation makes bonds riskier than stocks
The overwhelming evidence shows that, to retain purchasing power through your retirement, say perhaps the next 20 years, a significant commitment to the stock market is safer than retreating to cash or bonds.
KIM: New College Scorecard aids investment decision
The college represents the most important investment a student will make, so you want to maximize your expected return by carefully weighing all the factors.
SKARBECK: ETFs show a risky side in topsy-turvy markets
The recent volatility in the stock market has exposed problems with the fast-growing Wall Street products called exchange-traded funds.
SKARBECK: Investors shouldn’t panic over higher interest rates
Regardless of the market’s short-term gyrations, stock values 20 years from now should be considerably higher than today.
KIM: Bear-market funds can maul investors’ long-term returns
For the vast majority of investors, bear-market funds just don’t make sense.
KIM: Long-term investors let volatility be their friend
We’re biologically wired to avoid losses at any cost, and the bad memories of 2008 are still fresh. So it is perfectly understandable that investors are having a visceral reaction and feeling a great deal of anxiety. By the same token, we believe investors must overcome these biases in order to succeed.
SKARBECK: Commodity-price plunge caught many off guard
Commodities are in the midst of a nasty bear market, with prices spiraling lower.
KIM: Lenders also to blame for Greek debt tragedy
Greece shoulders most of the blame for its third trip to the brink of default in five years, but it takes two to tango and Greece had a most willing accomplice: the lenders themselves.
SKARBECK: State should tap surplus to boost teacher pension
Plenty of voices are chiming in with ideas on what to do with the state’s $2.14 billion reserves. So, here is another suggestion—make a sizable contribution to the Indiana Pension Stabilization Fund to help offset the woefully underfunded Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund.
KIM: Stock buybacks can be a harmful ‘sugar high’
The combination of higher EPS and company buying usually provides a short-term boost to the stock. This makes Wall Street happy, keeps the activists at bay, and helps management enhance the value of its stock options and meet bonus targets.
SKARBECK: Massive debt overhang to clobber Puerto Ricans
As the world frets over the events in Greece, a giant debt default closer to home is barely raising eyebrows.
KIM: External shocks to stocks are usually short-lived
The U.S. stock market has historically rebounded well and quickly from bad world news.
SKARBECK: U.S. investors keep faith despite global turmoil
Despite the defiant results of the Greek referendum that rejected further economic austerity in return for a cash infusion to deal with their debt crisis, it appears U.S. investors are betting the situation will be adequately solved.
KIM: Golf’s vexing challenges also apply to investing
Golf is not only a metaphor for life, but for investing also.
SKARBECK: Indiana gets aggressive in touting advantages
Indiana’s latest pitch to lure business received national attention and stirred up some controversy. Yet that is exactly what a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal is meant to do. So, mission accomplished.
SKARBECK: Sizzling Chinese stocks should spook investors
Chinese stocks have been on a tear. Last week, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 8.9 percent. In the last year, the Chinese market has jumped 150 percent. No other major stock market has ever grown this much in dollar value over 12 months. Since the beginning of 2015, the Chinese stock market has doubled in […]
KIM: ‘Shoot first’ trading mentality dangerous to financial health
High-frequency” trading firms spend billions in a high-stakes arms race to gain a millisecond’s edge on executions. But while speed may be valuable to traders, it can be extremely detrimental to investors.