November, 2017

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This is Not Normal

The Irrelevant Investor

Netflix, Facebook and Amazon are each up 60% in the first 11 months of the year. Apple, is up 50%. Google, the laggard, is up just 34%. These five stocks have added over $900 billion in market capitalization in the first eleven months of the year. The tech-heavy index, of which these companies represent one third of, is up 33% year-to-date, and is on pace to close higher for the ninth year in a row.

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Balancing Act | A New Publication Series

Brown Advisory

Balancing Act | A New Publication Series achen Tue, 11/28/2017 - 13:39 We believe that investing in equities should be a balancing act, not an exercise in placing bets on one side of the market. A Series Discussing Active Management In Late-Cycle Equity Markets Many investors are worried about the age of the bull market, how much longer it can last and what might happen to their investments in a downturn.

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Balancing Act | A Stroll Down Hindsight Lane

Brown Advisory

Balancing Act | A Stroll Down Hindsight Lane achen Tue, 11/28/2017 - 14:27 Market downturns and recessions may seem easy to predict. But timing the market is extremely difficult without the benefit of hindsight. Ultimately, fundamentals drive stock performance. Over shorter periods of time, this relationship is not very reliable, as stock prices are also affected by a tremendous amount of market noise—announcements from the Fed, political angst or exuberance, fears of war, hope of peace, and a h

Economy 52
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Balancing Act | A New Publication Series

Brown Advisory

Balancing Act | A New Publication Series. achen. Tue, 11/28/2017 - 13:39. We believe that investing in equities should be a balancing act, not an exercise in placing bets on one side of the market. A Series Discussing Active Management In Late-Cycle Equity Markets. Many investors are worried about the age of the bull market, how much longer it can last and what might happen to their investments in a downturn.

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Are Robots Replacing You? Keeping Humans in the Loop in Automated Environments

Speaker: Erroll Amacker

As businesses increasingly adopt automation, finance leaders must navigate the delicate balance between technology and human expertise. This webinar explores the critical role of human oversight in accounts payable (AP) automation and how a people-centric approach can drive better financial performance. Join us for an insightful discussion on how integrating human expertise into automated workflows enhances decision-making, reduces fraud risks, strengthens vendor relationships, and accelerates R

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Balancing Act | A Stroll Down Hindsight Lane

Brown Advisory

Balancing Act | A Stroll Down Hindsight Lane. achen. Tue, 11/28/2017 - 14:27. Market downturns and recessions may seem easy to predict. But timing the market is extremely difficult without the benefit of hindsight. Ultimately, fundamentals drive stock performance. Over shorter periods of time, this relationship is not very reliable, as stock prices are also affected by a tremendous amount of market noise—announcements from the Fed, political angst or exuberance, fears of war, hope of peace, and

Economy 52
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These Are the Goods

The Irrelevant Investor

Articles No invention has been more disruptive to the asset-management industry in the last quarter-century than the exchange-traded fund. With Crystal Kim Dave Nadig, Barry Ritholtz, Corey Hoffstein, and Ben Fulton Systematic, rather than faith-based. By Phil Bak So are all liquid alternative funds bad? By Jeremy Schwartz Staying cheap is not hard.

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Animal Spirits- Wave Pools and Market Inefficiencies

The Irrelevant Investor

On today's show, Ben and I speak about how career risk creates inefficiencies in the market, signs of froth, the Vanguard of alternatives, and ETF price wars. Links to articles discussed below. AQR: The Vanguard of Alternative Investing Asness Says Active Management, Not Passive, Is Too Big Small IPOs are Dying Why Vanguard Isn’t Freaking Out About Fewer Public Companies Corey Hoffstein on overweighting international stocks A Reality Check on Stock-Market Anomalies WeWork's $20 Billion Journey o

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These Are the Goods

The Irrelevant Investor

Articles Saving is passive, prioritizing is active. By Mike Dariano The process for producing legal filings runs like an assembly line for making widgets. By Stacy Cowley and Jessica Silver-Greenberg Everyone has an itch By Craig Shapiro We would wager that few other arguments have the power to turn off the critical thinking elements of our brain like valuation.

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Chart Crimes

The Irrelevant Investor

Stretching a linear axis vertically to prove a point. Don't do this. Some things should be shown as a level, not a percent change. The ten-year yield going from 2% to 2.1% is not a 5% change, it's a ten basis point move. The same holds for the VIX. Don't do this. So many things wrong with this one. This chart provides zero information. Comparing dollars across multiple decades have to be real, not nominal, and this should be shown as a percent change, year-over-year works.

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These Are the Goods

The Irrelevant Investor

Articles An accelerating number of Americans are now recipients of independent advice and are talking to their friends about it By Shirl Penney The look we get is always the same — like they just dropped their towel and we saw more than we should have. By Dina Isola Even the bulls are scared By Joe Fahmy We are all in the same boat. So are our colleagues and peers.

Numbers 52
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Book of Secrets on the Month-End Close

Based off SkyStem's popular e-Book, the book of secrets to the month-end close will be revealed in this one-hour webinar. Learn leading practices when it comes to building a strong and sustainable month-end close that has room to grow and evolve. Learn about the power of precise estimates, why reconciliations are critical to closing the books, how and when to automate, and how the chart of accounts play into your close process.

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These Are the Goods

The Irrelevant Investor

Articles We focus a lot on the basis points and probably not enough on the percentage points. By Jason Zweig So we write 2,000 books on how Buffett sizes up management teams when the biggest and most practical takeaway from his success is, “Start investing when you’re in third grade.” By Morgan Housel In short, nobody really knows. By Jack Vogel Fear is loud.

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Animal Spirits: Bitcoin, Bubbles & Bananas

The Irrelevant Investor

Why Bitcoin Matters Coinbase has more accounts than Schwab Bitcoin surges past $9,500 This poll is incredible. [link] New managers and career risk. [link] The future will look like the recent past. The New Retirementality. It's a two horse race. [link] 2017 is the year of stock market superlatives. [link] Volatility shrugged. [link] Thanks for listening!

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Investment Perspectives | “Undoing” the Fed’s Balance Sheet

Brown Advisory

Investment Perspectives | “Undoing” the Fed’s Balance Sheet achen Tue, 11/14/2017 - 16:18 These days, it seems like all eyes are on the Federal Reserve. Well, maybe not all eyes, but certainly a large number of investors are paying unusually close attention to the Fed as it begins to unwind its bond investments and thus reduce the size of its balance sheet.

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Investment Perspectives | “Undoing” the Fed’s Balance Sheet

Brown Advisory

Investment Perspectives | “Undoing” the Fed’s Balance Sheet. achen. Tue, 11/14/2017 - 16:18. These days, it seems like all eyes are on the Federal Reserve. Well, maybe not all eyes, but certainly a large number of investors are paying unusually close attention to the Fed as it begins to unwind its bond investments and thus reduce the size of its balance sheet.

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Stop Falling Short When It Matters Most—The Elite Advisor’s Playbook to Success

Like being inches from the end zone, many advisors are frustratingly close to their next level of success. You work hard. You put in the hours. But if your closing rate is stuck or your pipeline feels like a revolving door… something has to change. Most advisors are just one small shift away from dramatically increasing their revenue. The difference?