Quote of the day

Robert Seawright, “Our irrationalities will necessarily overwhelm us unless we do everything we can personally so as consistently to check our work and have it challenged by smart and talented people we encourage to “tear it apart.” That’s because we don’t see things as they really are and are consistently and dangerously much less rational than we assume.”  (Above the Market)

Video of the day

An interview with Howard Marks author of The Most Important Thing Illuminated: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor why we misunderstand risk.  (Bloomberg)

Strategy

Why you shouldn’t fall in love with any industry (or company).  (Rick Ferri)

The case for low vol investing.  (ETF, ibid)

A review of Guy Spier’s The Education of a Value Investor.  (Aleph Blog)

Companies

Why Apple ($AAPL) can make a go of it in payments.  (Daring Fireball, Pando Daily, WSJ)

Payments may help the Apple ecosystem but won’t be all that profitable.  (Asymco)

Finance

There is a dearth of new muni bonds.  (WSJ)

Why an investment bank would want to hire a former House Majority Leader.  (The Epicurean Dealmaker)

The market is never wrong: on the importance of bowing out gracefully from the hedge fund game.  (LadyFOHF)

Mutual fund companies are not shy about spreading money amongst the big brokers.  (Reuters)

ETFs

It’s been a long time since stockpickers outperformed.  (The Reformed Broker, WSJ)

Where actively managed funds really disappoint.  (Alpha Architect)

The lines between active and passive are becoming increasingly blurred.  (A Wealth of Common Sense)

How to robo-advisors pick among competing ETFs?  (ETF)

Global

The risks to the ECB’s new bond buying program.  (Dealbook also Econbrowser)

Has the Canadian economy stalled?  (FT Alphaville)

Economy

The August non-farms payroll number disappointed.  (Calculated Risk, The Upshot, MoneyBeat, Quartz, Bonddad Blog, Calafia Beach Pundit)

Breaking down the freelance economy.  (Justin Fox)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

Some links to a bunch of worthy podcasts.  (Abnormal Returns)

What you might have missed in our Thursday linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Mixed media

Should phone makers protect you from yourself?  (Farhad Manjoo)

Bill Gates wants to change the way history is taught.  (NYTimes)

On making better predictions: lessons from the Good Judgment Project.  (Tim Harford)

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