Tag Archives: asset allocation

Do hedge funds hedge?

…the experience of the Great Recession Source: Vanguard | 06/03/2010   The recent Great Recession provides a unique opportunity to examine the experience of hedge fund investors. Many investors believe that hedge fund managers have the flexibility to avoid the disastrous consequences of extreme market events. However, during the turmoil of the past few years, most hedge [...]
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Foreign Intrigue

U.S. Stocks with Heavy Foreign Exposure: Company Listed followed by its % of Sales Outside North America Colgate-Palmolive          81 Avon Products                77 Coca-Cola                          74 Autodesk                           72 Aflac                                    72 Merck & Co.                      70 Waters                                70 Caterpillar                        66 Nike                                     66 3M                                        64 Pfizer                                   58 Proctor & Gamble          57 You may be surprised by how big your foreign exposure is, or how small your domestic exposure is, when looking at your portfolio of [...]
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Opportunities in International Investing

More and more, we are finding it easier to justify our higher allocations to international equities.  Roughly 55% of the investable equity universe, by market cap, is outside of the U.S.  Also, world GDP has outpaced the U.S. GDP every year this decade; moreover, emerging markets have seen average GDP growth since 2000 of 5.9% [...]
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Two-Thirds Don’t Have a Financial Plan

Despite increasing pressure to slash debt and rebuild retirement funds, nearly two-thirds of consumers do not have a written financial plan, according to the 2009 National Consumer Survey on Personal Finance. The survey, released today by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, found that 64% of respondents do not have a written financial plan in [...]
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Now May Be a Good Time to Transfer Your Old 401K Plan(s)

Leaving your money in an old, forgotten 401(k) could be a losing proposition.  Hidden fees, limited investment options and a likely unbalanced asset allocation can plague your retirement plan(s).  If you are like many people, you’ve had many jobs over your career and left retirement-plan assets scattered about. Consolidating these plans and investments can help: rebalance your asset allocation expand [...]
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We (Still) Believe in Modern Portfolio Theory

There has been a lot of talk about the demise of Modern Portfolio Theory.  We still believe in Modern Portfolio Theory. Modern portfolio theory is concerned with controlling risk (risk management) for the whole portfolio by allocation among asset classes that in themselves may be volatile (and correspondingly have higher returns), but whose returns are uncorrelated [...]
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