Review: Jonathan Clements on Meir Statman’s Finance for Normal People, “Put the book on your bedside table and occasionally dip into one of the chapters. It’ll help you figure out what wants you have—and help you avoid costly cognitive and emotional errors.” (Humble Dollar)
Quote of the Day
"Alpha is the macho finance shorthand for an exemplary life. It is the excess return earned beyond the return required given risks assumed. It is finance nirvana."
(Mihir Desai)
Markets
- Markets never provide an 'all clear signal.' (bloomberg.com)
- Slow Summer Fridays are a great time to move stocks. (dashofinsight.com)
- The biggest problem today for investors is future low returns. (alephblog.com)
- Are cryptocurrencies a new asset class? (capitalspectator.com)
- Why the weakness in MLPs? (sl-advisors.com)
Strategy
- How various tactical asset allocation strategies performed in May. (allocatesmartly.com)
- If you knew a stock you owned today wasn’t going to go up for the next 12 months, would you still own it today? (microcapclub.com)
- Questions to ask before conducting a change in asset allocation. (awealthofcommonsense.com)
- Nick, "you should not view liquidity as a way to buy more assets at low prices, but as a way to prevent yourself from selling your assets at depressed prices." (ofdollarsanddata.com)
- How the same investment return can feel very differently. (theirrelevantinvestor.com)
- What would your investment process really look like in retrospect? (rp-pieces.com)
- Comparing your portfolio to a benchmark doesn't do you any good if you don't learn from it. (marketfox.org)
Offers
- In honor of you-know-who you can currently get $19.89 off an Amazon Music Unlimited plan. (amazon.com)
- Sign up for a free trial to Audible.com and two free books including Eric Barker's "Barking up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong." (amazon.com)
- The entry-level Amazon Echo Dot is $10 off or just $39.99. (amazon.com)
Companies
- Why Pandora ($P) and SiriusXM are joining forces. (recode.net)
- Nvidia ($NVDA) is the new Intel ($INTC). (thereformedbroker.com)
Apple
- Apple ($AAPL) needs to use AI and machine learning to keep its devices competitive. (nytimes.com)
- Apple ($AAPL) has six months to make the HomePod a success. (wsj.com)
- Apple's ($AAPL) Safari may be the browser to beat. (qz.com)
- Apple ($AAPL) is belatedly giving the App Store some attention. (bloomberg.com)
- There is no hiding Apple's ($AAPL) strength and weaknesses. (stratechery.com)
- Apple ($AAPL) and Microsoft ($MSFT) are trying to blur the lines between tablets and laptops. (businessinsider.com)
- One of these days you won't need an iPhone to make the Apple ($AAPL Watch useful. (fastcompany.com)
- John Gruber, "There should be no “virus and malware” scanners in the App Store." (daringfireball.net)
Retail
- Amazon ($AMZN) is taking on Wal-Mart ($WMT) with discounted Prime pricing. (theatlantic.com)
- Nordstrom ($JWM) may go private. (nytimes.com)
- Five experts weigh in on the death of brick-and-mortar retail. (axios.com)
- Dying malls are dragging everyone down in their wake. (footnoted.com)
- How technology changes what we want to buy not just where. (bloomberg.com)
- Can retailers push back against free shipping? (knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu)
Finance
- The Harvard endowment is getting out of the farming business. (wsj.com)
- Why family offices are bypassing private equity to go direct. (barrons.com)
- $2,679,001: that's how much it costs to go to lunch with Warren Buffett. (nytimes.com)
Funds
- Asset allocation always matters despite what investors may say. (beta.morningstar.com)
- Investors should be wary of hedge funds that convert into mutual funds. (beta.morningstar.com)
- Why smart beta investors are likely to be disappointed. (humbledollar.com)
Team Abnormal Returns
- An annual Abnormal Returns membership help support great content and provides perks to boot. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Stay up-to-date with all of our posts via our free daily e-mail newsletter. (abnormalreturns.com)
Economy
- It's hard to find a whole lot of slack in the US economy. (ft.com)
- The Fed's data-dependent path makes no one happy. (economistsview.typepad.com)
- Why the Fed is likely to raise rates next week even though they don't need to. (economist.com)
- The American manufacturing economy is doing just fine. (bloomberg.com)
- Why teens have stopped getting summer jobs. (theatlantic.com)
- What CEOs had to say about the economy this week. (avondaleam.com)
- A succinct summary of the week's economic events. (ritholtz.com)
- The economic schedule for the coming week. (calculatedriskblog.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Top clicks this week on the site. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Saturday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Longform links: expertise downgraded. (abnormalreturns.com)
- A link to all the questions in this week's series of Blogger Wisdom posts. (abnormalreturns.com)
- An appreciation of luck in life, love and finance. A review of Mihir Desai's "The Wisdom of Finance." (abnormalreturns.com)