“In recent years, with the U.S. stock market regularly providing returns well into the ‘double digits,’ we suspect that many investors have overlooked the importance of costs. Should the market revert to its long-term average, the impact of these costs will be more apparent.”—Investment Guide, February 2001 If recent trends are any indication, we were […]

We have written a great deal about the debate between active and passive money management, and the topic is now getting attention from the broader financial media. A recent front-page article in the Wall Street Journal (October 18, 2004 “As Two Economists Debate the Markets, The Tide Shifts” ) provided a summary of the debate,

The Producer Price Index rose by 1.7 percent in October, the largest monthly increase since 1990. It remains to be seen whether this signals a trend that will spiral. But investors who follow our approach can rest assured. Our parent, the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), has long warned of the inherent decline of

In September 1997 our parent, the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), in its Research Reports, assessed the state of the world’s fiat currencies at the time and observed that the dollar then stood as “The World’s Tallest Dwarf.” The dollar’s claim to that title is now in question. Following its inception in 1999 the

IGINDEX2004.pdf

IG2004Index.pdf

The following article was condensed from “Some Lessons from 250,000 Years of Stock Returns” by Truman A. Clark of Dimensional Fund Advisors. “My stocks are down 30 percent. What are the chances they will come back soon?” “Man, I wish I had been out of stocks for the past three years. How often are stocks

The highly publicized case against Martha Stewart has focused attention on the notion of insider trading. These events, as well as the trend described by the Wall Street journal article reprinted herein, serve as a reminder that individual investors are not well served by stock picking. The capital markets assimilate information with stunning efficiency. This

On April 8 the 30 component companies of the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) were changed for the first time since 1999. Eastman Kodak, AT&T, and International Paper were dropped while Pfizer, Verizon and American International Group (AIG) were added. Although two of the firms that were replaced were in our high-yield Dow model,