This weekend, I attended an event where Gayle Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans, gave the opening keynote address. Normally, I do not schedule events at 8:30am on a Saturday morning, but for Gayle, I made an exception. It was the 5th annual Tulane University, Women Making Waves conference,…
Diversification Isn’t Sexy
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket is the oldest adage in investing. Be sure to diversify your risk. Here’s the rub. Diversification isn’t sexy. We will not hit the stock market jackpot by buying the entire market. Market returns are average, and who wants to be average? Hindsight is 20/20, and there…
The Easiest Decade for DIY Investors
The S&P 500 Index is up 397% since the bottom of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. For 10 years, it has beat every asset class except for growth stocks. The rally was led by some of the most beloved companies with a direct connection to the end consumer – Apple, Amazon, and Netflix. This is unique…
The Deep Value Manager that Started a Crypto Fund
Years ago, I followed and read everything written by an esoteric, deep value manager named Murray Stahl of Horizon Kinetics. I found his contrarian and independent voice refreshing in the sea of closet-indexers paying to play on the wirehouse platform. In the summer of 2008, just before the carnage of the Great Financial Crisis, I…
On International Women’s Day
The CFA Institute launched an awareness campaign targeting high net worth investors in North America this week. I am optimistic it will raise the profile of the CFA(R) Charter among potential clients. You can view it on the campaign’s website: The Right Question. Today is International Women’s Day, and CFA Institute asked me to contribute…
This Week on The Belle Curve – Mardi Gras
I’m in the heart of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, and my final paper for graduate school is due Sunday. Somehow, between parades and lunches in the French Quarter, I will submit that assignment. Wish me luck. I was a guest on a couple of podcasts that dropped this week. When I was in…
Substance
I was a guest on Tim Mullooly’s podcast last week, and he asked me a fantastic question: What do you think is the number one thing that needs to change about the financial services industry? Rather than revisit the squabble over fees versus commissions or fiduciary versus suitability, I simply said we need to raise the…
Dear Former Branch Manager
I have been interviewed a few times since my controversial op-ed ran in the New York Times last month. Some were long-form podcast interviews that took a deep dive in to my career path. While revisiting the story of how I got here, I realized that I never thanked someone who had a major impact…
Circular Argument
I invited Meredith Jones, author, speaker, researcher, and expert in alternative investments, to speak to the CFA Society of Louisiana about women in investing. Or rather, the lack of women in investing. Lucky for us, she accepted, and I had the pleasure of meeting her in person for the first time. We have followed each…
Catch-Up Contributions
If you are like most people, you may have put off a few years of retirement savings when you were younger. Perhaps the cost of raising children took precedence over retirement savings. Daycare can cost as much as a mortgage payment, and college tuition is astronomical. Perhaps you withdrew funds from your 401(k) to start…
