Finance Clippings: NC Treasurer race - why fees are what really matte...: The local ABC channel (11) reported last night  that the NC Treasurer's office has uncovered wide spread fraud among retirees.  Examples inc...

Finance Clippings: Pension fund risky bets fail to pay off.: Pension Funds are increasingly chasing risky bets to try to hit return targets.   These investments are frequently highly illiquid, expensiv...

Thank you Professor Warr for your support!  Click here to go to Richard's blog ---> Finance Clippings: Elmer for NC Treasurer.: A good friend of mine, Ron Elmer, is running for North Carolina State Treasurer.  Ron's platform is pretty straightforward - he believes tha...

A review of State Treasurer campaign finance records from www.FollowTheMoney.org shows North Carolina State Treasurer Cowell ranks 3rd in the United States in raising campaign funds from out of state.  Only treasurers from Rhode Island and Iowa raise more campaign funds as a percentage from out of state, and North Carolina Treasurer Cowell actually raised more in dollar terms than both of those states, combined.  With $782,507, North Carolina Treasurer Cowell raised 10 times the...

Regarding “NC Treasurer sues Bank of N.Y. Mellon” 3/16/2012 Is the North Carolina State Treasurer asleep at the Wheel?  I think so. Having used it, I know that Bank of N.Y. Mellon has a wonderful analytical system called “Workbench.” Under the Workbench umbrella, is a powerful tool called “Investment Monitor.” Investment Monitor uses Boolean logic to screen portfolio holdings, trading activities, concentration limits, and general infractions of investment guidelines against a...

North Carolina's current treasurer is a PROFESSIONAL POLITICIAN and NOT a professional investment manager (see her lack of investment experience on Linkedin by clicking here).  I invite you to  compare her investment experience with mine (see my investment experience on LinkedIn by clicking here).  The current treasurer started in political office 11 years ago - first winning a seat on Raleigh City Council, then North Carolina State Senate, then on to the next stepping stone -...

My 3 rules for foreign equity investing:Do not hedge the foreign currency exposure.Index most (or all) of your foreign equity.Allocate no more than 10-20% of your portfolio to foreign equity.The link below will take you to a report with a TON of very useful information. CREDIT SUISSE GLOBAL INVESTMENT RETURNS YEARBOOK 2012I will focus on just one important finding in the report above that is somewhat controversial, and I will take it a step or two further. RULE #1 - Do NOT HedgeBottom line,...

Tomorrow marks the 6 month anniversary of the Investor Cookbooks blog!I'd like to say thank you to all of my readers!  Here are some stats about the blog.2600 page viewsReaders from every continent (except Antarctica)The top 5 countries are:US (76%)Russia (5%)Germany (4%)UK (2%)Norway (1%)Most read posts:You Can't Spell "DUMBASS" Without "MBA"Investment Performance Persistence ImprobableMutual Funds Without MoralsGOLD is Just another Four Letter WordEverything You...

Fidelity Investments is known as "Fido" on Wall Street. Maybe it's because their target date retirement funds are dogs?  Fido is known for its actively managed stock mutual funds.  Peter Lynch became famous as the index-beating manager of the Fidelity Magellan fund. And while Magellan has struggled since Peter retired some 20 years ago, Will Danoff and Joel Tillinghast have quietly carried the torch since Peter departed.Fido still sports a few funds with long impressive track...

Most college endowments and public pension funds are plowing more and more money into complicated and expensive "alternative investments" such as hedge funds and private equity in a failed effort to boost returns.  However, my analysis, combined with a recent study of college endowment fund returns and a study of public pension returns, proves most would  be better off if they simply indexed all their money.  In fact, my simulation of index fund returns would have placed easily in the...