The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 31, 2017

On July 31, 2008, investors were reminded of the fact that investing is a relative game, not governed by absolute laws. Exxon Mobil reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history, and its stock fell nearly 5%. (The S&P 500 declined 1.3% on the same day) The chart below is a great example of how markets act like a discounting machine.From 2005 to its peak in 2007, as Exxon became the greatest cash generating company of all-time, its stock rose 85%.

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Brown Advisory

JULY 19, 2017

A Moment of Zen: The Wisdom of Staying Invested achen Wed, 07/19/2017 - 15:28 When discussing the merits of cash as an investment, Warren Buffett doesn’t pull his punches, saying that those who hold cash or its equivalents “have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.” We strongly believe that clients should hold an appropriate reserve of cash for operating needs and emotional security.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 30, 2017

Articles Apple has become the greatest cash machine in history with what must have, at the time, been a ridiculously stupid idea: “let’s open stores.” By Scott Galloway How is it possible that everybody believes that they are honest yet has a difficult time identifying anyone else with the same characteristics? By Ben Horowitz The influx of capital has helped startups stay private longer with money that in past eras would have been raised on the public markets.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 27, 2017

Last night, David Schawel pointed out that the worst year for the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index was -2.9%. I've written in the past that a bad year for bonds is a bad week for stocks, but I was still surprised to learn just how shallow the worst calendar year was. You might say, well duh, bonds have been in a bull market for thirty years. Fair, so let's look back at the period from 1950-1981, when the ten-year rate went from 2% to 15%.

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Speaker: Duke Heninger, Partner and Fractional CFO at Ampleo & Creator of CFO System

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Duke Heninger, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

Accounting

The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 24, 2017

Last week I participated in a focus group. This is when fund companies pay participants to sit in a round table discussion and watch behind one-way mirrors. I've done this several times and they're always a great experience. I get to see how other people in the industry think, how much they know, and how they communicate with their clients. They don't tell you anything ahead of time, so when the person leading the discussion let us know it was on gold, I felt my heart flutter.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 19, 2017

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” -Vladimir Lenin U.S. stocks made zero progress in the seventeen months from October 2014 to January 2016. And in the seventeen months since the February lows, here's how the following indexes have performed. S&P 500 +36% NASDAQ 100 +52% Russell 2000 +52 What's happened in the last seventeen months?

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Brown Advisory

JULY 19, 2017

A Moment of Zen: The Wisdom of Staying Invested. achen. Wed, 07/19/2017 - 15:28. When discussing the merits of cash as an investment, Warren Buffett doesn’t pull his punches, saying that those who hold cash or its equivalents “have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.”. We strongly believe that clients should hold an appropriate reserve of cash for operating needs and emotional security.

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Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Creating Value in an Age of Disruption achen Mon, 07/17/2017 - 15:03 The panel noted that disruption is not a new phenomenon: As long as there have been companies, there have been new upstarts and business models that have threatened to unseat those companies. What is new today is the delivery of disruption (from many more directions than in the past) and the pace of that delivery (much more rapid than in the past).

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Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Innovation Beyond Silicon Valley achen Mon, 07/17/2017 - 15:21 Stan Boland , CEO of U.K.-based FiveAI, has spent his career innovating in the communication sector, mainly in the semiconductor and telecom space, and is acutely focused on how artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize many industries. Academia is a primary source of innovation in AI; for example, the science to improve autonomous driving is evolving in top universities around the world.

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Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant

Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.

Accounting

Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Cultivating the Seventh Sense: An Essential Instinct in the Age of Networks - Cloned achen Mon, 07/17/2017 - 16:18 Ramo is currently the co-CEO of Henry Kissinger’s consultancy firm and a board member of Starbucks and FedEx. His business career took off in Beijing in 2002, following a distinguished tenure at TIME magazine, where he became the youngest senior editor and foreign editor in the magazine’s history.

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Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Creating Value in an Age of Disruption. achen. Mon, 07/17/2017 - 15:03. The panel noted that disruption is not a new phenomenon: As long as there have been companies, there have been new upstarts and business models that have threatened to unseat those companies. What is new today is the delivery of disruption (from many more directions than in the past) and the pace of that delivery (much more rapid than in the past).

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Clients Engineering Economy Investing 52

Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Innovation Beyond Silicon Valley. achen. Mon, 07/17/2017 - 15:21. Stan Boland , CEO of U.K.-based FiveAI, has spent his career innovating in the communication sector, mainly in the semiconductor and telecom space, and is acutely focused on how artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize many industries. Academia is a primary source of innovation in AI; for example, the science to improve autonomous driving is evolving in top universities around the world.

Startup 52

Startup Transportation Clients Medical 52

Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Cultivating the Seventh Sense: An Essential Instinct in the Age of Networks - Cloned. achen. Mon, 07/17/2017 - 16:18. Ramo is currently the co-CEO of Henry Kissinger’s consultancy firm and a board member of Starbucks and FedEx. His business career took off in Beijing in 2002, following a distinguished tenure at TIME magazine, where he became the youngest senior editor and foreign editor in the magazine’s history.

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Accounting

The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 16, 2017

Articles The beauty of compound interest is that it continues to behave fractally with each piece of interest eventually earning its own interest. By of Dollars and Data Convincing yourself that you’re right when you know you’re wrong is a time-honored tradition in the markets By Ben Carlson Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment By Tony Isola You are kidding yourself if you think being greedy when others are fearful is as easy as saying it duri

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 13, 2017

I've never met a new investor who was a trend follower. That's because we were taught to buy low and sell high before we were old enough to open a brokerage account. So when we come of age, we go hunting for bargains. But we quickly discover this is harder than it sounds. Nobody can actually buy low and sell high. Not consistently anyway. Successful traders typically buy high and sell higher, and successful investors buy low and sell rarely.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 12, 2017

Emerging markets (EEM) are outperforming U.S. stocks this year by 12.3%. European stocks (VGK) are outperforming U.S. stocks by 8.3%. And despite the performance disparity in the first half of the year, the U.S. still owns the last decade. Over the last ten years, the S&P 500 has returned 95%. Emerging Markets are up 11% and European stocks have delivered zilch.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 11, 2017

One of the benefits, maybe the only benefit of watching the market as closely as I do, being that I'm not an active trader, is that I'm constantly reminded that I have no idea what's going to happen. The S&P 500 (total return) has experienced eight straight years of gains. It's been five and a half years since a 20% decline. The CAPE ratio is at 28.

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Banking

The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 9, 2017

Articles What has momentum today might not have momentum tomorrow. What looks like quality today might look like crap tomorrow. By Cullen Roche Active investors hold far, far more sway than a handful of index fund managers, which is why the stock market continues to go up and down every day. By Dave Nadig The most valuable part of history is studying how people behaved when something unprecedented happened.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 8, 2017

In a New York Times article from July 7, 1932, Urges Minimum For Stock Prices , the author wrote, "In the belief that the stock market has ceased to be a reliable yardstick of values, some business leaders are discussing the advisability of establishing minimum prices for securities as a means of establishing confidence in industry." The stock market would do that for them the very next day, making its final minimum price.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 3, 2017

I don't know where we are in the podcast cycle. Is it completely saturated or are there room for more entrants? I spend a lot of time with headphones on and I welcome the supply, the more the merrier. While it's impossible to listen to everything, there's nothing wrong with dropping something when a better product comes along to replace it. Here's how podcasts fit into my daily life.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 2, 2017

Articles More informed clients make better decisions, and better decisions lead to better client outcomes. By Jack Vogel The 1,900 most minuscule companies combined are only 2% of the total value of the U.S. stock market. By Jason Zweig Brute-force honesty in an industry plagued with concealment is a great way to build trust. By Morgan Housel Investing successfully is really hard.

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Speaker: Joe Buhrmann, MBA, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® Senior Financial Planning Practice Management Consultant eMoney Advisor

During an era of evolving consumer preferences, the banking sector is undergoing a profound shift. As customers continue to broaden their perspectives, banking professionals must support their customers' financial wellness by providing holistic financial advice that aligns with individual goals and circumstances. Without adapting, financial institutions will find that loyalty may crumble amid uncertainty.

Financial Advice

The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 2, 2017

Investors hire an advisor to help them achieve their financial goals. But what if the person they chose to work with is not properly measuring these goals? What if an objective third party would confirm that they aren't? And what if an advisor isn’t even tracking their goals in the first place? The State of Investor Trust and Transparency is a new research report produced by Phoenix Synergistics and Benjamin Gross of Visualize Wealth.

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The Irrelevant Investor

JULY 23, 2017

Articles Image is worth nothing and people won’t pay for it forever. By Josh Brown Don’t blame the product for the product user’s mistakes. By Cullen Roche Investors weigh the importance of change and timelessness differently, but every great company has some element of both. By Morgan Housel While portfolio management often brings investors into financial advisors’ offices, it won’t be the reason they stay.

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Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Shifting Alliances: America’s Changing Relationship with Asia and the Middle East achen Mon, 07/17/2017 - 16:08 Under Secretary of State Clinton, the U.S. began to pivot its diplomatic and military focus toward Asia. Asia encompasses 40% of global gross domestic product, four of the top 10 trading partners of the U.S. and almost two-thirds of the world’s middle class.

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Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | Shifting Alliances: America’s Changing Relationship with Asia and the Middle East. achen. Mon, 07/17/2017 - 16:08. Under Secretary of State Clinton, the U.S. began to pivot its diplomatic and military focus toward Asia. Asia encompasses 40% of global gross domestic product, four of the top 10 trading partners of the U.S. and almost two-thirds of the world’s middle class.

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Economics Clients Investing Investments 52

Speaker: Carolina Aponte - Owner and CEO, Caja Holdings LLC

In today's rapidly changing business environment, building a resilient balance sheet is crucial to the survival of any business. A resilient balance sheet allows a company to withstand financial shocks and adapt to changing market conditions. To achieve this, companies need to focus on key strategies such as maintaining adequate liquidity, managing debt levels, diversifying revenue streams, and prioritizing profitability over growth.

Financial Planning

Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | What Next? Making Sense of the Global Economy achen Mon, 07/17/2017 - 16:13 Those looking for a security blanket may have been disappointed. Minton Beddoes delivered a thoughtful and perceptive critique of the global environment. The main body of her talk began with a thought experiment: If we had gained perfect political foresight 12 months ago—foreseeing the Brexit vote, a Trump presidency, a Macron victory out of nowhere in France, a coup in Turkey and a challenged UK election—woul

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Economy Clients Government Investing 52

Brown Advisory

JULY 17, 2017

NOW 2017 | What Next? Making Sense of the Global Economy. achen. Mon, 07/17/2017 - 16:13. Those looking for a security blanket may have been disappointed. Minton Beddoes delivered a thoughtful and perceptive critique of the global environment. The main body of her talk began with a thought experiment: If we had gained perfect political foresight 12 months ago—foreseeing the Brexit vote, a Trump presidency, a Macron victory out of nowhere in France, a coup in Turkey and a challenged UK election—w

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Economy Clients Government Investing 52