Nonprofit endowments with funds to deploy toward their philanthropic mission have been trying to make sense of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The conflict has created another setback for a global economy struggling to recover from the ravages of the pandemic. The West’s economic sanctions have spurred investors to dump Russian assets, causing the ruble to lose over two-thirds of its value vs. the dollar almost 10 days Read More
Nonprofit Endowment Investing and Geopolitical Risk
It has been less than a week since Russian military forces invaded Ukraine and already pundits are predicting dire global economic and investment consequence. Still, the outlook is very uncertain as no one can predict how sanctions will affect President Putin’s actions, as well as those of other actors in this crisis. Uncertainty is never a time to change one’s long-term nonprofit endowment investment strategy. Read More
SPACs, Dogecoin, Meme Stocks: The Dangers of Social Media Investment Sensations
My middle school daughter assured me a boxslide on skis was a piece of cake. After all, she’d watched the pros do it effortlessly on YouTube. As we stood atop the snow park run, I convinced myself I had what it took to “stomp” the trick, having skied for over four decades. No matter that I’d never tried anything like this before. Or that I was super tentative approaching the box (I’m leaning so far back!). Or that I Read More
The Global Market Portfolio: A Super-Efficient Portfolio as a Foundation for the Disciplined, Purpose-Focused Investor
A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic has unleashed economic chaos about the globe. Economic success in one country seems to elude another. Weak economic indicators don’t seem to affect stock markets meaningfully one day until they do the next. As a result, financial professionals, economists, and investment experts, who have never seen anything like it, are grasping at straws to predict what comes next. Tactical moves to Read More
Up-and-Down-and-Up-and-Down: Q2 2020 Fairlight Global Markets Snapshot
Short and sharp, Fairlight’s Global Markets Snapshot summarizes the economic backdrop to Q’2 2020’s volatile results asset class by asset class. Up one day, down the next. Since late February, it’s been difficult to track markets reacting to the relentless effects of the coronavirus pandemic. While we’ve seen a rebound recently as economies slowly open, more declines may be ahead of us. A portfolio globally Read More
Active vs. Passive Investment Management
Active Investment Management or Passive Investment Management? That is THE question. Among investment professionals, anyway. While these two investment approaches can spark heated debate, few investors can effectively describe the difference. But understanding the difference between Active and Passive investing is consequential to your investment portfolio. Active Investing Summarized Let’s start with active Read More
Fortune Tellers Everywhere
Why We Shouldn’t Try to Predict Stock Prices A friend mentioned the other day that in November 2019, she chatted up a fortune teller who made a spectacular prediction: by the 2020 general election, the US would suffer the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. No visions of a dark, handsome stranger for her. The financial industry has always employed economists and investment strategists in the role Read More
Communicating the Unthinkable
A number of years ago I received a mobile call at work from a number I couldn’t recognize. This is how I remember it: “Am I speaking to Maya Tussing?” “Yes.” “This is Fire Battalion Chief Joe Schmoe and I want to tell you first the good news. No one was hurt.” So if that’s the good news, what’s the bad news? I thought about that conversation as I watched markets close to record highs Thursday with the S&P 500 Read More
What is Asset Allocation?
With most markets taking a nose dive, it’s enough to make you run for the hills. Yet you’ve heard a lot of investment professionals tell you to “Stay the course.” But what does “stay the course” actually mean? It refers to maintaining the investment strategy that you put into action before the market crash, assuming it’s the right fit for your circumstances. When someone refers to an investment strategy, they are Read More
What are Asset Classes?
In Lesson One of Asset Allocation, we learned that when investment professionals say “Stay the course”, they mean investors should maintain their investment strategy, which typically refers to the portfolio’s asset allocation or the percentage amounts allotted to certain investment categories in your portfolio. In March 2020 most asset classes lost significant value, some almost 30% and others less than a percentage Read More
