Going Global: A Look at Public Company Listings
Trivia time: how many stocks make up the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index (a widely used benchmark for the US equity market)? While the logical guess might be 5,000, as of December 31, 2016, the index actually contained around 3,600 names. In fact, the last time this index contained 5,000 or more companies was at the end of 2005. This mirrors the overall trend in the US stock market. In the past two decades there [...]
Pursuing a Better Investment Experience #8: Do Emotions Affect Investment Returns?
Many people struggle to separate their emotions from investing. The chart above shows the correlation between emotional cycles and market returns. Investors typically buy at "Elation" and sell at "Fear", inherently creating a dreaded "selling low, buying high" strategy. A philosopher once said that nothing is as difficult for people as not deceiving themselves. But while most self-delusions are relatively costless, those relating to investment can come with a hefty price tag. Market volatility in [...]
Fee Reductions Announced By Our Preferred Partners!
A Core principle of the Park + Elm’s Investment Strategy is investing efficiently, and adding value by analyzing and reducing portfolio expenses. We focus on partnering with firms that value those same principles, in order to deliver a cost efficient, research based portfolio for our clients. It’s been a great 2017, and we are thankful to be partners with two respected organizations that announced fee reductions in January. As a fiduciary, we continuously analyze the [...]
Pursuing a Better Investment Experience #7: Avoid Market Timing
You never know which market segments will outperform from year to year. By holding a globally diversified portfolio, investors are well positioned to seek returns wherever they occur. Trying to correctly time your entry point to the market is difficult, and unfortunately humans have an instinctive desire to take control and make a change when things aren’t moving in the direction we want. The problem is that what appears to be an intelligent alternative may [...]
Quarterly and Annual Market Review – Q4 2016
This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter and the past year. It begins with a global overview, then features the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the impact of globally diversified portfolios and features a quarterly topic. CLICK HERE! QUARTERLY AND ANNUAL MARKET REVIEW
Pursuing a Better Investment Experience #6: Practice Smart Diversification
It’s not enough to diversify by security. Deeper diversification involves geographic and asset class diversity. Holding a global portfolio helps to lower concentration in individual securities and increase diversification. Over long periods of time, investors can benefit from consistent exposure in their portfolios to both US and non-US equities. While both asset classes offer the potential to earn positive expected returns in the long term, they may perform quite differently over shorter cycles. The performance of [...]
