Archives

Every two weeks, there’s a quote, a chart, some postings to catch up on, and a bunch of interesting readings that you might not have seen. It’s the Fortnightly!

An examination of Pimco prompts a series of questions that get at important due diligence and manager selection considerations.

The times, tools, and tactics that allowed Pimco to thrive are examined in the second posting about the firm and its leader, Bill Gross.

This first of three postings about Bill Gross and Pimco looks at the organizational dynamics of one of the most successful firms of the last four decades — and the deposition of Gross as the Bond King.

The second part of a series about the 1990s and 2000s in the investment business covers a couple of personal accounts of analysts from the times.

A new market environment has forced the reconsideration of some previously-held beliefs. A bit about that, but also the normal cornucopia of readings found in each edition of the Fortnightly.

Advisory firms face pressures from clients and from throughout the investment ecosystem to offer new strategies, some of which are being increasingly viewed (and/or promoted) as essential.

Despite our sophistication, tools, and zettabytes of data, there is a lot that we don’t know and important gaps in the information we have available to us.

From climate change to Bitcoin, from 529 plans to OCIOs, from Hetty Green to Putin, an interesting case study, and much more. Just a typical Fortnightly.

How can outside research on uncommon topics provide insight for the manager selection process? This is the second of two related postings.

In this first of two related postings, a Mauboussin and Callahan report serves as the framework for examining longstanding areas of weakness for asset management firms.

Two white papers present visions of the future. Asset owners need to weigh the various ideas to decide which ones will move their organizations — and their portfolios — forward.

What is Jack Bogle’s legacy? How important is good communication for investment professionals? Plus, block trading, inflation expectations, RIA acquisitions, pension obligation bonds, Ned Johnson, Orville Wright (?), and a due diligence question (and a due diligence reminder).

A Morningstar analyst’s downgrade of Fidelity Contrafund provides an opportunity to see the value of visualizations in determining good avenues for due diligence research.

A profound change has taken place in many portfolios that are supposed to produce alpha, from a focus on finding the best individual holdings to an environment in which many are “agnostic to security-level information.”