I blame the fund managers
I’ve been building up a couple of dummy funds on Reuters’ new Portfolio tool. Not only is it a welcome diversion from actual work, but it allows me to test the mettle of the fund managers we speak to, and check out the guidance offered by the Lipper Leader fund rankings.
One of my portfolios uses the stock picks and short ideas offered up by the managers we interview for the many FUND VIEW stories which dot the Reuters wire. The other simply picks some of the funds which score highest across the Lipper fund sectors.
In theory, it gives me ample room to lay blame elsewhere when the dummy funds inevitably go belly up and I’m forced into a fire sale of assets to repay my dummy investors with dummy money. In truth though, I’m going to set the asset weightings and decide when to buy and sell so any abject failures will be more fairly laid at my door.
The early results, in fact, are pretty encouraging.
The Fund Viewer stock picking portfolio has delivered me a comforting 8 percent return since I put it up on Sept 25 (my wedding anniversary — must be a good omen) and that’s with a ridiculously cautious 36-percent weighting in cash, as well as some equally ridiculous single-stock exposures caused by misreading the denominations. (That little ‘p’ is pence folks, big ‘P’ is pounds)
My Fund Leaders fund of funds has even less of a track record, but has still managed close to 2 percent returns since Oct 6.
Both funds are outperforming the FTSE Europtop 100 index, my chosen benchmark, by more than 18 percent on a three-month view. I’ve not exactly been scientific about choosing the index, but fortunately my dummy investors have notoriously poor due diligence standards.
from Blogs Dashboard:
Count on it: in three generations your rich client will be poor
It turns out that advisers to ultra-rich aren’t always so flush themselves. So, what happens, if, say, you spend a day on your client’s fancy yacht, then go back to your own tiny dinghy?
It’s simpler, more elegant . . . or just smaller.
“It’s an awkward position you’re in when you’re dealing with high net worth individuals and families because even if you have a pretty nice lifestyle at home you go on a trip and visit three or four clients and you come home at the end of the day and say, ‘Wow, how do I suffer through this five bedroom house and four bathrooms, and woe is me,’” BNY Mellon Wealth Management Managing Director of Family Wealth Services Thomas Rogerson told the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Boston.
“I think that advisors that work with high net worth families very often have to struggle with that issue,” he said.
Rogerson is a funny case. He, himself, is heir to a fortune. His great grandfather was president of Boston Safe Deposit and Trust, a Massachusetts state-chartered bank taken over by Mellon, and started the Boston Foundation and Rogerson Communities philanthropic organizations. But, the money is essentially gone.
“It’s gone, I’m sorry to say, or I wouldn’t be here. I’d be a client, I wouldn’t be the employee,” he quipped.
Trying to help his clients avoid a similar fate, he has all sorts of advice about improving family communication and focusing on wealth in terms of human, intellectual, and social capital before financial capital.
from MacroScope:
Lehman plus 365 – and interactive
The anniversary of Lehman Brothers' collapse on September 15 will doubtlessly bring with it vast numbers of stories about what it all meant. It was, after all, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, a marker for the near collapse of the financial system and the trigger for government to pump trillions of dollars into economies to stave off another Great Depression.
We at Reuters will be analysing the fallout, of course, in the traditional way. But we have also launched a special web documentary and interactive timeline to mark the event. Pictures, video, and text all combine -- sometimes poignantly -- to chart the year of upheaval since the momentous day.
Quite inconceivable to the founders of Lehman some 158 years ago. But then again, so probably was the collapse.
You can see "Times of Crisis" here.
In the meantime, see also our exclusive interview with Richard Fuld, who as former CEO of Lehman Brothers was blamed for the collapse of the bank, in his riverside country house in Idaho.
from From Reuters.com:
How has the credit crisis affected you?
The demise of Lehman Brothers a year ago sparked a collapse in financial market confidence and set of a series of reactions that have spread hardship into the four corners of the globe.
Reuters News has charted the key events and their impact in "Times of Crisis" -- a major new multimedia production on Reuters.com. (See it here.)
We'd like to add the experiences of Reuters readers. So, if you or your family have been affected by the events of the past year then use the comments section below to share your story.
I had been a college graduate for 3 months when Lehman collapsed. Since then, I’ve gotten a better job with better wages, improved my living standard, and paid off the credit card debt I accrued in college.If the recession had come a year or two later, I probably wouldn’t have been as cautious starting out and I would be feeling the effects more than I am.
from Summit Notebook:
Nasdaq president to finance companies: come hither
A fertile planting ground for tech, biotech and even some energy offerings, Nasdaq OMX has historically struggled to lure listings in some other areas, notably financial services.
Now, that could be about to change, Nasdaq OMX President Magnus Bocker said at the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit. As Nasdaq looks for ways to attract new listings and end a virtual drought in IPOs, it sees financial services firms as one of the most promising areas.
That Nasdaq would at least be hoping to narrow the gap in financial services listings with NYSE, the traditional ruler of the space, is not as out of left field as it might sound.
The exchange has already made some inroads and can point to some recent conquests like CME Group, which moved from a dual listing on Nasdaq and NYSE to a sole Nasdaq listing. Northern Trust, the fund administrator which has weathered the financial crisis with relative ease compared with some larger rivals, is another bright point.
And looking forward, such longtime NYSE stalwarts as Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have both recently been reportedly eyeing spinoffs of high risk units -- like Morgan Stanley's trading desk and Citigroup's Phibro energy unit. And there's even talk that Bank of America could eventually spin off Merrill Lynch.
It’s a positive development that Nasdaq looks for ways to attract new listings and end a virtual drought in IPOs, but looking for only financial services firms is not a right approach. There are many other promising areas as well.
from Funds Hub:
Watch hedge fund manager Colin McLean give his market outlook
McLean was speaking today at London leg of the Reuters Hedge Fund and Private Equity Summit.
