I can’t get that gospel song out of my head today. We knew this day would come, we just didn’t know the timing. The global scientific community has been in a race to produce a COVID-19 vaccine all year, and Pfizer is the first to report good news. They may not be the last. We…
Behavioral Finance/Psychology
The Fallacy of Perfection
I am hearing a lot lately that investors are “waiting until after the election” to invest cash. I get it. This election is the most polarizing in my lifetime, in all of our lifetimes. Throw in a 100-year pandemic, the expansion of mail-in voting to ensure voter safety, an almost guarantee that we won’t know…
The Slow Money
I have spent my entire career in wealth management. It happened by accident. I wanted to be an investment banker, but neither of the regional banks that recruited at my school were interested in me. After graduation, I interviewed for a position on an institutional fixed income desk. Afterwards, I rode down the elevator with…
An Interview with Michael Lewis in New Orleans
Despite completely losing my voice to a cold yesterday morning, I schlepped myself and my copy of The Undoing Project down to the Marriott in New Orleans to get Michael Lewis’ signature. That is after I frantically searched for but could not find my paperback copy of Liar’s Poker, my favorite Lewis book. Michael was…
The Power of Silence
Over the weekend, someone shared a video of the late Mr. Rogers, talking about the importance of silence and solitude in such a noisy world. He was referring to the barrage of news and information. I regret that I am unable to find that tweet and give credit to who ever shared it, but I…
New Research on Women on Boards
There’s a new paper in this month’s Harvard Business Review that connects to presence of women on boards to lower overconfidence in male CEOs. This is the kind of research I relish over, especially because the authors found a market based metric to measure CEO overconfidence – the exercise of their own stock options. Essentially,…
Beginner’s Mind
My yoga teachers have often spoken of the benefits of a Beginner’s Mind. A student new to yoga, or any other discipline, approaches postures and sequences with no preconceived ideas and a healthy curiosity. There are no mental obstacles to block information and wisdom that can be obtained from learning the new pose. After practicing…
True Wealth is “Funded Contentment”
Last month at the CFA Wealth Management conference, I moderated a session for my friend, Brian Portnoy. Brian is a scholar, an author, a teacher, and is currently the Head of Education for Magnetar Capital. His second book, The Geometry of Wealth, begins with a primer on what it means to be truly wealthy. Brian…
Rejuvenation
I spent the Memorial Day weekend at Lake Martin in Alabama with my family. This is where I have spent the majority of Memorial Days in my life. This year I slept the whole time. I went to bed early and woke up late. I even took naps. I was tired. After a month spent…
Tax Refunds – The Ultimate Behavioral Finance Lesson
65% of individual taxpayers received a tax cut last year, according to the Tax Policy Center. Only 6% saw a tax increase, and the remainder saw little or no change in their tax bill. This tax season, I read article after article about taxpayers distraught over smaller refunds. Most taxpayers owed less tax in 2018,…
