If a rational investor believes that a passive strategy like indexing will usually outperform an active strategy like stock-picking, then why is it so difficult to stick to that passive strategy?
Read MoreWhere Are the Customers’ Yachts?
Warren Buffet reminded us of this story when he delivered an epic rant against Wall Street last weekend during the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett unloaded what he called a “sermon" about hedge funds and investment consultants. Shortly put, Buffet thinks these players are usually a "huge minus" for anyone who follows their advice.
Read MoreInglorious Bankers
The Panama Papers have caused quite an uproar and many questions have been raised about Nordea Bank’s role as an intermediary between wealthy clients and Mossack Fonseca.
Read MoreBig Banks will always have Rogue Traders
London Whale. LIBOR Rigging. FX Scandal. Gold Manipulation. It looks like we'll never get rid of rogue trading completely in big banks. That’s a huge problem.
Read MoreWhat’s Next? Helicopter Money?
Our Central Bank (ECB) has officially entered the Twilight Zone. The actions announced on Thursday (March 10th, 2016) were unprecedented. Not even Japan has gone this far before. The confusion and disbelief among journalists in the press conference was palpable.
Read MoreItaly will never go cashless, unless cash is banned
In Italy cash is king and I mean real physical paper money and metal coins. This is not just my observation – European statistics show that cash is more important only in Romania and Greece.
Read MoreThe Return of the Gold Bugs
Gold has been a seriously bad investment for the past four years. That hasn’t discouraged the Gold Bugs who remain bullish on gold no matter what. They see gold as the only safe harbour and believe that its value must go up given all the madness in the world. Perhaps the recent price activity in gold marks a new dawn for the Gold Bugs?
Read MoreNIRP. A Disgusting Four-Letter Word
ZIRP and NIRP. Not so long ago they were just economic theories treated with curiosity and disbelief. Now they are reality. The words are acronyms for Zero and Negative Interest Rate Policies. NIRP is the ultimate manifestation of stupidity in the global financial system.
Read MoreHow could the U.S. Government's Debt Spiral not be a Problem?
A few days ago the total U.S. debt surpassed $19 trillion. It’s such a huge amount that for the sake of clarity let’s write it down in numbers: 19,012,827,698,418 (exact amount as of Jan 31st, 2016). Since 2009 the debt has risen by a staggering $8.4 trillion and during the same period inflation has basically been zero. How concerned should you be of this development?
Read MoreThe Art of Sitting on Your Hands
2016 has started roughly for stocks all around the world. The chaos in China spread quickly to other continents and demonstrated brutally how interconnected the global markets are today. Oil is crashing to new lows and is currently trading close to $30. The S&P500 index had its worst-ever first week and went down roughly 10% from autumn highs. The noise is getting louder and louder and stock market investors are faced with a dilemma: should I sell everything or just sit on my hands and keep it cool.
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