Tag: systematic-investing

In a blog last week, I discussed how the virtually uninterrupted bull market in equities during the last 10+ years has watered down the idea of “downside protection.” This is a problem, especially since not all declines are created equal.

Vanilla is a fascinating ingredient. It is one of the most popular flavors worldwide and is incredibly common for use in baked goods. The process of creating vanilla flavoring is time-consuming and labor-intensive, which is why in its purest form it is also one of the most expensive spices in the world.

Vanilla’s widespread use and high value alone are not what makes it interesting. Take vanilla and add it to a cake mix and it enhances the flavor, turning an ordinary result into something great. But if you first bake the cake and then drizzle even the highest quality vanilla over it, you have effectively ruined the dessert.

Ingredients matter. So does the order in which they’re combined. In baking and investing.

While a series of profitable years is wonderful, we all know the ride comes to an end at some point. When that happens, advisors seeking to manage or reduce clients’ risk level can be held hostage to the gains that have built up in taxable accounts.

As advisors add new clients/accounts and plan for 2022, now is the time to consider approaches that reduce the risk of this scenario.

We are big fans of Moneyball and share the mindset of using data to make more rational decisions. We also enjoy using lateral thinking to translate, in relatable terms, our investment process and thinking around risk management. Sports provide us with a particularly fertile environment to do that.

Of all major U.S. sports, none has a vaster treasure trove of data than baseball. Perhaps it is no coincidence then that no sport depends more on data to make tactical decisions than the national pastime.

Major League Baseball’s Fall Classic got us thinking about an interesting corollary between effective hitting and an adaptive approach to asset management.

As parents (myself included) apprehensively sent their kids back into the classroom for another pandemic-influenced school year, it put me in the mood to chip away at my own reading list, a collection of research papers that had accumulated in the “to read” folder on my desktop.

Now, before you condemn me to the nerd-set, I’m only going to cover one in this blog, and specifically one that covers a topic that’s relevant for advisors and their clients: how to best protect against inflation.