Financial Crisis

Trees Grow

“Trees grow” is an adage that has stuck with me over the past several years.

In a post financial crisis interview, a successful investment manager was talking about his decision to load-up on Citigroup and a handful of other banks in early 2009 when the decision to do so was difficult to say the least.

The manager referenced a professor who shared the trees grow saying with him, and he emphasized the impact that the idea had on his decision to build and maintain significant long positions in banks and other financial services stocks when everyone else was certain the world was coming to an end.

The trees grow idea involves considering fundamental qualities of things—whether trees, people or businesses.

Growing is what trees do—it is...

Glossary: 

Wally Weitz on the Failure of Imagination

Wally Weitz is a hugely successful and yet relatively low profile money manager. His performance over a very long period of time credibly places him among the world’s top performing investors. Like his Omaha neighbor Warren Buffett, Weitz is a deep value investor. His fundamental investing criteria is the price of a security relative to its intrinsic value—the lower the price the better. In the video below, Weitz speaks to Bloomberg about his biggest investment mistake. In a...
Glossary: 

The Hartford Seeks to Avoid Repeat of 2008

The 2008 financial crisis hit the Hartford Financial Services Group harder than many of its peers. At a recent investor meeting, executives from The Hartford discussed how the company has positioned itself to avoid a repeat of 2008—largely through de-risking of its balance sheet. The following is a high-level representation of changes in the composition of assets in The Hartford’s investment portfolio: Reduced holdings of commercial mortgage-backed securities Reduced subordinated...
Companies: 

Five Questions for Don McNay

Don MaNay is a financial columnist, a Huffington Post contributor and an expert in the field of structured settlements. 

Don’s financial guidance is refreshingly straightforward, filled with good common sense, and geared towards a Main Street audience.  His most recent book is titled Wealth Without Wall Street: A Main Street Guide to Making Money. 

We had an opportunity to speak to Don about his financial practice and his most recent book.  

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Demography and Deflation

Japan’s experience over the past 20 years provides solid support for those who believe that there is a causal link between demographics and...

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