Ritholtz Wealth Management has teamed with Betterment to make Liftoff the easiest way to begin investing. There is no minimum and transferring in existing accounts is a snap. Click here to hear the thinking behind this move.
Quote of the Day
"Having a strategy that’s well thought out and that you can stick with, in good markets and bad, is your best hope for winning. “Beating the market” is irrelevant, at best. “Timing the market” is suicidal, at best."
(David Snowball)
Chart of the Day

The mortgage market is on the cusp of a massive refinancing wave. (via @lenkiefer)
Markets
- The growth in stock buybacks is slowing. (ft.com)
- Should we be worried by record high consumer confidence? (fat-pitch.blogspot.com)
- Consumer staple stocks have perked up. (silverlightinvest.com)
Value
- Value stocks have really not experienced this kind of drawdown before. (theirrelevantinvestor.com)
- Three theories why value stocks are underperforming so badly. (finance.yahoo.com)
Strategy
- How TAA strategies performed in July 2019. (allocatesmartly.com)
- There is no universal definition of the quality factor. (mrzepczynski.blogspot.com)
Netflix
- Netflix ($NFLX) IS TV. Everyone else is mucking about. (ben-evans.com)
- A look at Netflix's ($NFLX) cash flow situation. (fortune.com)
Finance
- The UK's Revolut has launched a commission-free stock trading service. (ft.com)
- Goldman Sachs ($GS) wants to trade stocks even faster. (cnbc.com)
- Companies going public need to stick the landing when it comes to telling their story to investors. (fortune.com)
- US companies have stopped moving overseas for tax reasons. (wsj.com)
Alternative assets
- Four reasons why liquid alts have been sucking wind of late. (awealthofcommonsense.com)
- Family offices are like a moth to the flame when it comes to alternatives. (ft.com)
- Why private equity is focusing on Europe. (pionline.com)
Global
Economy
- The July NFP report showed a continued growth in employment. (calculatedriskblog.com)
- If the employment scene is so good, then why is economic growth sluggish. (npr.org)
Reading
- A clever hack on how to read more books. (tomtunguz.com)
- Who you should take book recommendations from. (kottke.org)
- Good advice from 2006 that still holds true today about reading online. (kottke.org)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Podcast links: how to rob a bank. (abnormalreturns.com)
- On the Compound Show: I talk balancing today and tomorrow with Jeremy Walter. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Thursday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Startup links: funding trade-offs. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Don't short-circuit your financial plan with an inflexible spending rule. (abnormalreturns.com)