The bestselling book “Freakonomics” chronicles the search for the hidden incentives behind all sorts of behavior. It characterizes the field of economics as the study of incentives – how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. “Freakonomics” gives entertaining examples of how odd results can [...]
Category Archives: How Wall Street Makes Money
Is Obama’s New “Big Brother” Big Enough? — Protecting Your Retirement Dollars
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Whether a reference to George Orwell’s authoritarian character from Nineteen Eighty-Four, or a more affectionate reference to an older, more experienced sibling who is looking out for your interests, some form of the Big Brother spirit is at work in the current financial reform laws. In a passionate attempt to protect the individual investor from [...]
How Did Your Portfolio Perform?– Understanding Risk and Diversification
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
In competitive pursuits, there are established and transparent measurement systems to
determine not just performance but how performance is achieved. In professional sports,
a variety of statistics are used to compare individual and team performance. Everyone
from team managers to owners to bookies use these common statistics. And because the statistics don’t like, there is little [...]
Does the Candyman Have You Hooked? — Consider Discharging Your Investment Adviser
Saturday, July 31, 2010
For some, The Candy Man is a fun ditty from the 1971 movie “Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.” The phrase, however, has its origins in a much more sinister past. As stated in the May 1976 article of the Oxford Journal, the etymological origins of the term “candyman” are rooted in a historic [...]
Assets Out of Management — Challenging ‘Assets Under Management’
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
A few weeks ago BP CEO, Tony Hayward, felt the heat of America’s ire for his “I want my life back” gaffe. This week, BP Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, may have out done him, commenting before Congress “BP cares about the small people”. After 11 deaths, destruction of Gulf fisheries and a local [...]
Get Wall Street Out of Your Pocketbook by Removing the Intermediaries
Monday, May 10, 2010
Just when we thought we were through hearing about the Wall Street hooligans and their criminal vices our “untouchable” friends at Goldman Sachs made the news twice. The Wall Street Journal revealed that the SEC has found criminal doings at Goldman. With one hand secretly cramming worthless mortgaged backed securities into their valued clients accounts, the [...]
