Richard Shaw

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• $7.4 Trillion Bailout - Oh My, Oh My

  Published 24 November 2008 | viewed 6,024 times

  This news leaves us simply speechless. Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Fed Pledges Exceed $7.4 Trillion to Ease Frozen Company Credit -- The U.S. government is…

• Lower Prices Now - Massive Inflation Later?

  Published 16 November 2008 | viewed 5,978 times

  November 12th, 2008 The global economy is declining. As a result, prices of important kinds of "stuff" is falling. Governments are pouring money onto the…

• Wiley Coyote Suspended in Air Over a Canyon

  Published 08 November 2008 | viewed 5,221 times

  There is nothing left in the charts to suggest support for the S&P 500 index if it pierces the approximate 800 level (roughly 80 for…

• Investment Approach for Mature Accounts

  Published 31 October 2008 | viewed 3,983 times

  Whether we are coaching you as you manage your assets, or whether we are managing assets for you, if your investment account is mature, we…

• SP Returns Since 1927 Are Important

  Published 26 October 2008 | viewed 5,275 times

  Rolling cumulative rates of return are important and useful, but so too is a fixed view of returns for discreet periods of time. Calendar year…

• SP Index at 400?

  Published 12 October 2008 | viewed 5,914 times

  October 10th, 2008 The S&P 500 has experienced price level growth in the 1990's through today (Oct 10) that is substantially greater than the price…

• Cost of Bailout Per Taxpayer by Income

  Published 30 September 2008 | viewed 4,622 times

  September 29th, 2008 The bailout of Wall Street may not have ultimate costs as high as the nominal bailout amount, but the interest payments on…

• Whither Oil Prices?

  Published 06 September 2008 | viewed 4,782 times

  Where are oil prices going? We don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows. Short-term events could drive oil higher or lower. The current trend is…

• Board and Executive Compensation in SP 500

  Published 05 August 2008 | viewed 2,546 times

  Executive compensation and board largess with high paid executives is a hot topic recently. That spurred us to look comprehensively at some factual comparative data…

• Bank Executive Compensation and the Bailout

  Published 19 July 2008 | viewed 3,083 times

  Executive compensation is a difficult issue. Although we grant that the challenge in designing a reasonable system that works in all seasons is daunting, in…

• ... And They All Fall Down

  Published 10 July 2008 | viewed 4,433 times

  There is plenty of bad business news out there, including with icons such as GE, AIG, banks of all sorts, municipal bond insurance companies and…

• World Market Weighting Your Equity Allocation

  Published 22 June 2008 | viewed 2,738 times

  When you establish the equities allocation within your portfolio, your macro-level decision may begin with an allocation between US stocks, non-US developed market stocks, and…

• Islamic Funds Avoid the Financial Meltdown

  Published 20 June 2008 | viewed 3,369 times

  Barron's June 16, 2008 featured an article, Keeping the Faith, about how funds adhering to Islamic (Shariah) investment principles have avoided the greatest effects of…

• Avoiding Wash Sale Rule with Alternate Accounts

  Published 02 June 2008 | viewed 13,503 times

  Summary: In the words of Tony Soprano: "Fogetaboutit". Expanded Summary: In the words of the IRS: "Section 1091", "Section 267" and "Rev Ruling 2008-5" Purpose:…

• Some Basic Suitability Issues in Portfolio Design

  Published 30 May 2008 | viewed 2,455 times

  No one portfolio is suitable for all investors and no lifestyle or target date fund has a portfolio that is appropriate for all investors of…

• Tax Loss Harvesting and Standby Substitutes

  Published 20 May 2008 | viewed 3,078 times

  The practical challenge when tax loss harvesting is maintaining a continuous asset class exposure at target levels without time gaps, while avoiding penalties under the…

• Investing in Banks - KBW Large Bank Index

  Published 13 May 2008 | viewed 2,938 times

  Banks have had a rough time lately and the market performance of their stocks reflect that. Now that Secretary Paulson and some others are calling…

• Risk Adjusted Returns, a Visual Approach

  Published 13 May 2008 | viewed 2,848 times

  We believe it is important to look at return and volatility risk in both absolute and relative terms. For relative performance, we think the 10-year…

• Importance of Major Asset Class Volatility Ranges

  Published 05 May 2008 | viewed 2,904 times

  Investors should think about volatility as well as mean returns when planning and analyzing their portfolios. If we could remain investors for long periods, and…

• Major Asset Class 1,3,5,10 and 15 Year Returns

  Published 05 May 2008 | viewed 3,680 times

  As you select asset classes and class weights for your portfolio, you should take into consideration, among other things, the mean return of those classes…