Why do investors make stupid mistakes? Why do individuals consistently underperform the very funds they invest in? Are there strategies investors can follow to avoid self-destructive behavior? Those are some of the weighty questions Financial Thought Leader Andrew Lo is trying to answer from two vantage points, one as a professor of Finance at MIT and Director of its Laboratory for Financial Engineering, the other as strategist and fund manager at his firm AlphaSimplex Group. This week’s conversation will start with his most recent research project at MIT, titled “Artificial Stupidity”!
Wealthtrack Episodes
CHARLES ROYCE: CHANGING MARKETS
In a WEALTHTRACK exclusive, Great Investor, Charles “Chuck” Royce, warns us not to read too much into recent super-sized stock returns, particularly off the 2009 market lows. He predicts quality companies will once again lead over speculative ones and active managers to overtake passive index strategies. This small cap pioneer, for one, has been doing that for decades
KEN HEEBNER: GREAT CONTRARIAN INVESTOR
What does CGM Focus fund’s legendary portfolio manager think of so called high-frequency, computer driven trading? Which unloved stocks is he investing in now. Capital Growth Management’s Ken Heebner answer those questions and more.
ROBERT ARNOTT: A BETTER MOUSETRAP?
Is there such a thing as a better mouse trap? This week’s Financial Thought Leader guest has created an alternative to traditional index funds. Instead of being based on market capitalization or stock price, his Fundamental Index® approach measures fundamentals such as sales, profits, and dividends to determine the weight securities have in his indexes. Research Affiliates Chairman and CEO Robert Arnott explains why fundamentals can make a big difference.
CLEMENTS & ZWEIG: GREATEST FINANCIAL CHALLENGES
The Wall Street Journal’s two top personal finance journalists, Jonathan Clements and Jason Zweig, both now at The Wall Street Journal tackle the three greatest financial challenges facing Americans.
DAVID WINTERS: A DIFFERENT DRUMMER
More often than not, WEALTHTRACK guests march to the beat of a different drum. Wintergreen Fund’s David Winters, a value investor who describes himself as the opposite of an index hugger, has more than 60% of his portfolio invested in companies based overseas and has recently taken a stand against Coca Cola management and Warren Buffett!