WaPo Columns
It’s not the holly nog or the holiday spending that you’ll most regret later. It’s the stock picking.
Despite a November surprise, economies and markets are just so much bigger than elected officials and campaigns.
Lots to consider: the millions to settle harrassment claims, talent retention, who will run Fox News and a graying audience.
He reportedly died without one — an expensive and avoidable oversight, even if you are not a superstar.
The investor’s best interests should come before those of the adviser. Wall Street wants to tell you otherwise.
This is what markets do — they go up and down, sometimes violently. Don’t panic. Stick with a long-term strategy.
My holiday gift to you: Ideas to make you a better investor. (No stock picks, predictions or economic analysis!)
No! So it shouldn’t be hard to ignore the financial forecasters — who can’t see the future any better than you.
They have sophisticated tools, capital and inside information.You won’t win at their game. Here’s how to play your own.
Just saying “no” to buying anything misses out on the best way to make intelligent financial decisions.
Everything you need to know about setting yourself up for epic failure could fit on a 4X6 index card.
That means turn off the talking heads on financial TV and stop chasing the headlines with your money.
As Richard Thaler explains, investors behave against their own interests — but you can outsmart your brain
The recovery is not evenly distributed, and a few factors have a major influence on whether you feel it.
Not just Uber: Tech firms are uniquely poised to topple old, entrenched businesses in many industries
Knowing when to seek help, and adhering to the old tenets of patience and discipline, can lead to success.
Giancarlo Stanton’s baseball deal isn’t as much as it sounds like, and he still needs to budget and plan ahead.
This advice can be crucial for investors seeking help
The growth of superstar stocks is always marked by white-knuckled drops. Few have the nerve to hold on.
It turns out, writing about a subject is a good way to figure out where you stand on the issue.
The greatest market timer and the worst market timer fare about the same as the dollar-cost averager.
There are factors that can narrow the trader’s disadvantage, but capital gains taxes are still the big issue.
Traders pay a tax of 30 percent or more on short-term capital gains. Passive indexers come out ahead.
Financial stress and bankruptcy are startlingly common for athletes once their playing careers come to an end.
Look at the motivations of pundits, strategists and fund managers before making investment decisions.
You might think that after last year’s strong gains, the markets might be due for a breather, but . . .
Valuation is a tougher question than many realize, and analysts’ estimates are at best an informed guess.
Tech giant’s actions suggest that it very cognizant of the future — and potential threats to its core business.
Media shopping reports, surveys, measures of foot traffic are pretty much meaningless.
Drop the forecasters, the wise men and the opinion mongers if you want to add value to the investing process.
The Nobel committee, in a fix, crafted an elegant solution to the problem posed by Fama’s more-recent work.
Regardless of your views of this law, approach the process objectively if you want to be a successful investor.
Although the collapse of the firm signaled an enduring financial crisis, Lehman didn’t cause the crisis.
Can the firm’s decline be attributed to an uninspired CEO? Is it a victim of its life cycle? Or is it something else?
Too many investors have portfolios worthy of the derisive term Goldman Sachs employees used for clients.
With historically low interest rates starting to rise, United States could miss a golden opportunity to rebuild.
For those who disliked my advice for investors who missed stocks’ historic rally, here’s what I think you missed.
Goldman Sachs will let you invest in funds that charge big fees and return relatively little. But why would you?
Getting more and more news from the social network is having significant repercussions for markets — and your money.
Dollar cost averaging and portfolio rebalancing will improve your returns — assuming you are disciplined.
Barry Ritholtz: Before you let short-term news affect your judgment about a stock, ask yourself these questions.
COLUMN | My goal every year is to make a whole new set of errors, rather than repeating the same mistakes.
These 10 enlightening strategies could keep you from making some common investing errors.
Huge shifts have already taken place, and understanding what they are will help your financial planning.
COLUMN | Many debunked theories and policies still have a vice grip on amateurs and professionals alike.
COLUMN | Other factors are weighing much more on equity markets than the ‘fiscal cliff’ talks.
COLUMN: Knowing yourself and admitting your mistakes can help you avoid becoming your own worst enemy.
COLUMN | Sometimes you have an embarrassment of riches to select from; other times you are choosing the “least-worst“ option.
COLUMN | Ten inviolable rules for dealing with the sharks on the Street.
Lots of folks are wondering what happened to the Main Street mom and pop, retail investor. They seem to have taken their ball and gone home. It might be instructive to figure out why.
The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 didn’t cause the financial crisis, but that and the push for deregulation made it worse.
Given recent low, low yields, perhaps it is time to revisit some of the basics about owning bonds, bond funds and ETFs. We can also explore what alternatives exist regarding yield and generating income.
QUARTERLY INVESTMENT REVIEW | Here are the top 10 errors you might be making with your money. Fix your strategy now — before the next storm hits.
COLUMN | Anyone complaining about a lack of certainty reveals how little they understand about the topic.
Bankers have belatedly taken a closer look at internal procedures for handling defaulted mortgages.
Our columnist slips off into the near future in his time machine to find that a simple FDIC rule change took taxpayers off the hook for banks’ risky bets and made the financial system safer.
One thing that makes the JPMorgan trade look especially foolish is that it’s nearly the same sort of recklessness that AIG exhibited: selling derivatives against zero reserves.
Q&A | The Post’s business editors turned to our investment columnist Barry Ritholtz for some plain talk on the stock sale.
Policy wonks and closet indexers are among the active fund managers you might do well to steer clear of.
If you want to grasp why America is not doomed, you must spend some time with its young entrepreneurs.
Stories of a recovery in the real estate market are a rite of spring, but columnist remains skeptical.
Apple’s plan to institute a dividend and buy back stock won’t much dent its cash pile. What should the company do? Buy Twitter.
COLUMN | Nation’s ordeal reveals yet another reason why the policies should be regulated as insurance.
Far fewer users flock to the social media site than claimed. Its $100B valuation may be just as overstated.
Four years after the great financial collapse, three years after the recovery began and in the last year of President Obama’s term, the president has finally decided to investigate the role of fraud in the great global financial crisis.
Markets do not rally or sell off because one candidate or the other is more likely to win.
What’s an investor to do in 2012? Start by ignoring lists.
It doesn’t seem like any of our holiday wishes have been granted over the past decade.
The most troubling aspect of the firm’s demise? That the activities that led to its collapse were possibly legal.
Surveys of shoppers suggested that holiday retail sales climbed 16 percent from last year. They did not; it was hype.
COLUMN | The best way to dispel the Big Lie about its cause is to see how the data stack up
Rather than admit the error of their ways, those who helped cause the financial crisis are engaged in an active campaign to rewrite history.
If you travel overseas, you can see how disgraceful the U.S. infrastructure is — and one reason for our economic struggles. Here’s what we need to do:
There is an unfocused financial rage finding its voice with Occupy Wall Street. Here’s how the movement can find focus and accomplish important goals.
If your business involves the use of leveraged capital for speculation by your employees, then it is your job to know which, if any, of your people are not competent.
The range of investors’ opinions affects their outlooks about earnings and prices, and what they’re willing to pay in the markets.
COLUMN | Ignored in the avalanche of Steve Jobs coverage is the crushing effect his firm has had on competitors.
COLUMN | Banking system needs more than massive injections of liquidity, which only temporarily help.
Investors smacked by big market swings this past week should remember: The trend is your friend until that nasty bend at the end.
Nation’s central bank painted itself into a corner in its mishandling of interest rates after dot-com crash.
COLUMN | After last week’s tumult, will investors finally be inspired to adjust their risk parameters?
We’ve got some prolonged challenges: ongoing debt issues, unemployment, a housing overhang and economic frailty.
Why have analysts and economists on Wall Street gotten the recovery so wrong? Most are looking at the wrong data set, using the post-WWII recession recoveries as their frame of reference.
Happy birthday, America. But at 235 years old, you’re flabby, creaky and easily led astray. Take some tips from some other countries.
There are surprising insights to be gleaned from the experiences of the very wealthy regarding their investments and experience with wealth.
The Armageddon forecasters are a hardy breed. But they’re never right.
Great investors are savvy generalists, people conversant in about five fields of endeavor that are hugely helpful to asset management.
This question involves huge sums of money. Ninety million individuals in the United States have $12 trillion invested in mutual funds. In terms of saving for retirement, mutual funds holdings account for 54 percent of 401(k)s and 47 percent of IRAs (in dollar terms).
To help you wrap your head around the value of a dollar, it helps to look at five factors.
Anticipating (versus reacting to) the next black swan: What you should know and what do before the next financial disruption.
We need to make the executives personally liable for their own reckless bets if we really want to remove the risk for taxpayers. And that means giving shareholders, boards of directors and regulators the ability to “clawback” past gains when new speculations go horribly wrong.
He reportedly died without one — an expensive and avoidable oversight, even if you are not a superstar.
The investor’s best interests should come before those of the adviser. Wall Street wants to tell you otherwise.
This is what markets do — they go up and down, sometimes violently. Don’t panic. Stick with a long-term strategy.
My holiday gift to you: Ideas to make you a better investor. (No stock picks, predictions or economic analysis!)
No! So it shouldn’t be hard to ignore the financial forecasters — who can’t see the future any better than you.
They have sophisticated tools, capital and inside information.You won’t win at their game. Here’s how to play your own.
Just saying “no” to buying anything misses out on the best way to make intelligent financial decisions.
Everything you need to know about setting yourself up for epic failure could fit on a 4X6 index card.
That means turn off the talking heads on financial TV and stop chasing the headlines with your money.
As Richard Thaler explains, investors behave against their own interests — but you can outsmart your brain
The recovery is not evenly distributed, and a few factors have a major influence on whether you feel it.
Not just Uber: Tech firms are uniquely poised to topple old, entrenched businesses in many industries
Knowing when to seek help, and adhering to the old tenets of patience and discipline, can lead to success.
Giancarlo Stanton’s baseball deal isn’t as much as it sounds like, and he still needs to budget and plan ahead.
This advice can be crucial for investors seeking help
The growth of superstar stocks is always marked by white-knuckled drops. Few have the nerve to hold on.
It turns out, writing about a subject is a good way to figure out where you stand on the issue.
The greatest market timer and the worst market timer fare about the same as the dollar-cost averager.
There are factors that can narrow the trader’s disadvantage, but capital gains taxes are still the big issue.
Traders pay a tax of 30 percent or more on short-term capital gains. Passive indexers come out ahead.
Financial stress and bankruptcy are startlingly common for athletes once their playing careers come to an end.
Look at the motivations of pundits, strategists and fund managers before making investment decisions.
You might think that after last year’s strong gains, the markets might be due for a breather, but . . .
Valuation is a tougher question than many realize, and analysts’ estimates are at best an informed guess.
Tech giant’s actions suggest that it very cognizant of the future — and potential threats to its core business.
Media shopping reports, surveys, measures of foot traffic are pretty much meaningless.
Drop the forecasters, the wise men and the opinion mongers if you want to add value to the investing process.
The Nobel committee, in a fix, crafted an elegant solution to the problem posed by Fama’s more-recent work.
Regardless of your views of this law, approach the process objectively if you want to be a successful investor.
Although the collapse of the firm signaled an enduring financial crisis, Lehman didn’t cause the crisis.
Can the firm’s decline be attributed to an uninspired CEO? Is it a victim of its life cycle? Or is it something else?
Too many investors have portfolios worthy of the derisive term Goldman Sachs employees used for clients.
With historically low interest rates starting to rise, United States could miss a golden opportunity to rebuild.
For those who disliked my advice for investors who missed stocks’ historic rally, here’s what I think you missed.
Goldman Sachs will let you invest in funds that charge big fees and return relatively little. But why would you?
Getting more and more news from the social network is having significant repercussions for markets — and your money.
Dollar cost averaging and portfolio rebalancing will improve your returns — assuming you are disciplined.
Barry Ritholtz: Before you let short-term news affect your judgment about a stock, ask yourself these questions.
COLUMN | My goal every year is to make a whole new set of errors, rather than repeating the same mistakes.
These 10 enlightening strategies could keep you from making some common investing errors.
Huge shifts have already taken place, and understanding what they are will help your financial planning.
COLUMN | Many debunked theories and policies still have a vice grip on amateurs and professionals alike.
COLUMN | Other factors are weighing much more on equity markets than the ‘fiscal cliff’ talks.
COLUMN: Knowing yourself and admitting your mistakes can help you avoid becoming your own worst enemy.
COLUMN | Sometimes you have an embarrassment of riches to select from; other times you are choosing the “least-worst“ option.
COLUMN | Ten inviolable rules for dealing with the sharks on the Street.
Lots of folks are wondering what happened to the Main Street mom and pop, retail investor. They seem to have taken their ball and gone home. It might be instructive to figure out why.
The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 didn’t cause the financial crisis, but that and the push for deregulation made it worse.
Given recent low, low yields, perhaps it is time to revisit some of the basics about owning bonds, bond funds and ETFs. We can also explore what alternatives exist regarding yield and generating income.
QUARTERLY INVESTMENT REVIEW | Here are the top 10 errors you might be making with your money. Fix your strategy now — before the next storm hits.
COLUMN | Anyone complaining about a lack of certainty reveals how little they understand about the topic.
Bankers have belatedly taken a closer look at internal procedures for handling defaulted mortgages.
Our columnist slips off into the near future in his time machine to find that a simple FDIC rule change took taxpayers off the hook for banks’ risky bets and made the financial system safer.
One thing that makes the JPMorgan trade look especially foolish is that it’s nearly the same sort of recklessness that AIG exhibited: selling derivatives against zero reserves.
Q&A | The Post’s business editors turned to our investment columnist Barry Ritholtz for some plain talk on the stock sale.
Policy wonks and closet indexers are among the active fund managers you might do well to steer clear of.
If you want to grasp why America is not doomed, you must spend some time with its young entrepreneurs.
Stories of a recovery in the real estate market are a rite of spring, but columnist remains skeptical.
Apple’s plan to institute a dividend and buy back stock won’t much dent its cash pile. What should the company do? Buy Twitter.
COLUMN | Nation’s ordeal reveals yet another reason why the policies should be regulated as insurance.
Far fewer users flock to the social media site than claimed. Its $100B valuation may be just as overstated.
Four years after the great financial collapse, three years after the recovery began and in the last year of President Obama’s term, the president has finally decided to investigate the role of fraud in the great global financial crisis.
Markets do not rally or sell off because one candidate or the other is more likely to win.
What’s an investor to do in 2012? Start by ignoring lists.
It doesn’t seem like any of our holiday wishes have been granted over the past decade.
The most troubling aspect of the firm’s demise? That the activities that led to its collapse were possibly legal.
Surveys of shoppers suggested that holiday retail sales climbed 16 percent from last year. They did not; it was hype.
COLUMN | The best way to dispel the Big Lie about its cause is to see how the data stack up
Rather than admit the error of their ways, those who helped cause the financial crisis are engaged in an active campaign to rewrite history.
If you travel overseas, you can see how disgraceful the U.S. infrastructure is — and one reason for our economic struggles. Here’s what we need to do:
There is an unfocused financial rage finding its voice with Occupy Wall Street. Here’s how the movement can find focus and accomplish important goals.
If your business involves the use of leveraged capital for speculation by your employees, then it is your job to know which, if any, of your people are not competent.
The range of investors’ opinions affects their outlooks about earnings and prices, and what they’re willing to pay in the markets.
COLUMN | Ignored in the avalanche of Steve Jobs coverage is the crushing effect his firm has had on competitors.
COLUMN | Banking system needs more than massive injections of liquidity, which only temporarily help.
Investors smacked by big market swings this past week should remember: The trend is your friend until that nasty bend at the end.
Nation’s central bank painted itself into a corner in its mishandling of interest rates after dot-com crash.
COLUMN | After last week’s tumult, will investors finally be inspired to adjust their risk parameters?
We’ve got some prolonged challenges: ongoing debt issues, unemployment, a housing overhang and economic frailty.
Why have analysts and economists on Wall Street gotten the recovery so wrong? Most are looking at the wrong data set, using the post-WWII recession recoveries as their frame of reference.
Happy birthday, America. But at 235 years old, you’re flabby, creaky and easily led astray. Take some tips from some other countries.
There are surprising insights to be gleaned from the experiences of the very wealthy regarding their investments and experience with wealth.
The Armageddon forecasters are a hardy breed. But they’re never right.
Great investors are savvy generalists, people conversant in about five fields of endeavor that are hugely helpful to asset management.
This question involves huge sums of money. Ninety million individuals in the United States have $12 trillion invested in mutual funds. In terms of saving for retirement, mutual funds holdings account for 54 percent of 401(k)s and 47 percent of IRAs (in dollar terms).
To help you wrap your head around the value of a dollar, it helps to look at five factors.
Anticipating (versus reacting to) the next black swan: What you should know and what do before the next financial disruption.
We need to make the executives personally liable for their own reckless bets if we really want to remove the risk for taxpayers. And that means giving shareholders, boards of directors and regulators the ability to “clawback” past gains when new speculations go horribly wrong.
He reportedly died without one — an expensive and avoidable oversight, even if you are not a superstar.
The investor’s best interests should come before those of the adviser. Wall Street wants to tell you otherwise.
This is what markets do — they go up and down, sometimes violently. Don’t panic. Stick with a long-term strategy.
My holiday gift to you: Ideas to make you a better investor. (No stock picks, predictions or economic analysis!)
No! So it shouldn’t be hard to ignore the financial forecasters — who can’t see the future any better than you.
They have sophisticated tools, capital and inside information.You won’t win at their game. Here’s how to play your own.
Just saying “no” to buying anything misses out on the best way to make intelligent financial decisions.
Everything you need to know about setting yourself up for epic failure could fit on a 4X6 index card.
That means turn off the talking heads on financial TV and stop chasing the headlines with your money.
As Richard Thaler explains, investors behave against their own interests — but you can outsmart your brain
The recovery is not evenly distributed, and a few factors have a major influence on whether you feel it.
Not just Uber: Tech firms are uniquely poised to topple old, entrenched businesses in many industries
Knowing when to seek help, and adhering to the old tenets of patience and discipline, can lead to success.
Giancarlo Stanton’s baseball deal isn’t as much as it sounds like, and he still needs to budget and plan ahead.
This advice can be crucial for investors seeking help
The growth of superstar stocks is always marked by white-knuckled drops. Few have the nerve to hold on.
It turns out, writing about a subject is a good way to figure out where you stand on the issue.
The greatest market timer and the worst market timer fare about the same as the dollar-cost averager.
There are factors that can narrow the trader’s disadvantage, but capital gains taxes are still the big issue.
Traders pay a tax of 30 percent or more on short-term capital gains. Passive indexers come out ahead.
Financial stress and bankruptcy are startlingly common for athletes once their playing careers come to an end.
Look at the motivations of pundits, strategists and fund managers before making investment decisions.
You might think that after last year’s strong gains, the markets might be due for a breather, but . . .
Valuation is a tougher question than many realize, and analysts’ estimates are at best an informed guess.