Today’s Talk Your Book is brought to you by Simplify Asset Management:   On today’s show, we spoke with Anupam Ghose, Managing Partner at System Two Advisors to discuss active equity exposure in India On today’s show, we discuss: Why India is different than China Growth opportunities within India How GDP growth translates to higher stock prices Why it’s important to have local staff in India ..read more

In the early-1980s, Robert Shiller set out to answer the question: Do stock prices move too much to be justified by subsequent changes in dividends? The idea was to figure out how well the stock market tracks the present value of future cash flows in the short-term. Shiller concluded that, no, stock prices do not neatly track fundamentals. He updated that data in his book Irrational Exuberance: The cash flows move very l ..read more

How much money do you have to make to feel rich? It’s a subjective question. A lot depends on your lifestyle, where you live, how much you spend and save, your peer group, and your vulnerability to comparison. The comparison piece matters more than most are willing to admit. Wealth is relative. JP Morgan once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” It’s easy to say when you’re one of the weal ..read more

A reader asks: I get all the stuff Ben has been saying about inflation — wages have kept pace, economic growth has been higher than the 2010s, wages have risen the most for lower income people, etc. I get all that. My husband and I own a house and own stocks so we’ve benefitted in recent years. Having said all of that, I STILL CAN’T GET OVER HOW HIGH PRICES ARE!!! The grocery store, home/auto insurance ..read more

Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by YCharts: See here for YCharts’ quarterly economic update slide deck! See here for tickets to The Compound and Friends LIVE in Los Angeles On today’s show, we discuss: Will the growth of indexing lead to its downfall?  Fund industry’s asset mix offers encouraging sign  CPI Data – motor vehicle insurance  Why car insurance rates are so high  Th ..read more

Today’s Talk Your Book is brought to you by Direxion On today’s show, we spoke with Ed Egilinsky, Managing Director, Head of Alternatives, and Head of Sales and Distribution at Direxion to discuss diversifying away from the Magnificent 7. For more information, see here or email info@direxion.com On today’s show, we discuss: Flows into bullish and bearish funds Magnificent 7 concentration risk Nasdaq 10 ..read more

According to Redfin, we just hit another new all-time high in the median monthly payment (based on current home prices and mortgage rates): The median payment for a new purchase has doubled since 2021. Mortgage rates were back up to 7.4% this week. Nationwide housing prices are still are all-time highs and up around 50% since the end of 2019. There has been this feeling of something has to give for a while now but nothi ..read more

Wes Gray from Alpha Architect joined me on the show this week to discuss questions about the best places to live for tax purposes, owning T-bills without the high taxes and how to best diversify value stocks. Further Reading: Buy & Hold vs. Fear & Greed The post Knowledge Alone Doesn’t Change Behavior appeared first on A Wealth of Common Sense ..read more

Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by Pacer ETFs and Fabric by Gerber Life See here for more information on Pacer ETFs Go to meetfabric.com/spirits for more information on life insurance from Fabric by Gerber Life See here for tickets to The Compound and Friends LIVE in Los Angeles On today’s show, we discuss: S&P 500 trackers hit a record 27% of 2023 equity ETF flows What’s wrong with the ..read more

Finance people spend a lot of time worrying. About the next recession. The next bear market. The next Black Swan event. The level of interest rates and inflation and valuations and the Fed and basically everything else. This makes sense. The bad stuff hurts more than the good stuff feels good so risk management rules the day. I’m a finance guy so I worry about plenty of these things too. But there are certain risks ..read more