“Gold jacket, green jacket…who gives a $%&!”– Happy Gilmore We have heard them called foreign equities, global markets, international developed, emerging markets, frontier markets, BRIC…
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International Developed: What Do You Own?
How Advisors Saddle Clients with Massive Tax Bills
My favorite quote on taxes comes from Morgan Stanley… “You must pay taxes, but there’s no law that says you have to leave a tip.” Recently, we met a prospective client that was baffled how her advisor generated a large...
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I watch quite a bit of golf in my spare time. PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Korn Ferry, LPGA, it doesn’t matter. Watching top pros compete…
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What’s Attractive in this Environment?
Looking back at 2017, the resounding theme from our clients has been disbelief around the perplexing nature of the runaway U.S. equity markets. However, most are quite…
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Over-Diversification
“Your portfolio is a bowl of soup of random investments, seemingly cobbled together over time.” Meb Faber, Cambria Investments We review outside investment statements quite…
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Why Clients Fire their Advisor
Change is hard. Humans like patterns, routines, and familiarity. This is especially true when dealing with sensitive issues like financial affairs. We rely on people…
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What Happens After a +25% Year?
I have an evening routine of perusing Twitter for market research nuggets. I email myself interesting articles to read the following morning. I’m not looking…
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What’s All This Volatility Talk?
“When you compare the fundamental risks that we see all around the globe with the lack of volatility in our securities markets, it’s profoundly troubling.”…
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Pure Portfolios 2017 Client Letter
In the spirit of the great Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder letter, we feel it’s important to share not only our thoughts on financial markets, but…
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Following the Herd: Short-Term Bonds
The current tightening cycle has so far been reminiscent of its mid-2000s counterpart. At the time, Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan had characterized the fall…
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