Weekend Reading – Should You Invest in Stocks at All-Time Highs?
Weekend Reading is a collection of Investment Research and Lifestyle topics from all corners of the Web. We source the highest quality insights from Wall Street and Main Street that you may apply to your investment process. Unlike the rest of Bankeronwheels.com, this series is provided without additional guidance. As usual, everything is to be used at your own risk. Below is the type of content we shortlist:
The mutual fund industry is not an investment management industry. It's a marketing industry.
Portfolio Construction
Asset Allocation
For your friends & family: How to start investing in 10 steps (Banker on Wheels)
A while back I was on a hike with friends and after talking about some exciting topics like cycling the world, the conversation ended up drifting towards investing. Francesca and Joanna were buzzing about Index Funds, fresh on their radar. But both were reluctant to deploy money in the Stock Market. Francesca’s cash stash was gathering dust, while Joanna swore by her home’s value. I vowed to scout a list of ETFs for them. But, sharing our trail talk might just be the golden nugget you need.
Interactive Broker Review (Banker on Wheels)
Interactive Brokers is a Top Tier platform: Passive Investors will appreciate very competitive fees, family subaccounts and the ability to put investing on autopilot using monthly standing orders. For investing geeks, it opens the door to running a family hedge fund by unlocking access to U.S. markets including Factor ETFs, advanced portfolio management techniques including synthetic leverage or margin loans.
Live And Let Buy: Which Bonds For Your Objectives? (Banker on Wheels)
Whether you are investing for the Short or Long Term, Bonds are a key component in a portfolio.
Today, we will spotlight the different bond categories. Which goals do you pursue? The category of bonds largely depends on the answer to this question. We will also go through bonds you may want to avoid, to accomplish your goals. Let’s dive in!
- Equity for the long run? With Alan Dunne (Systematic Investor - 1 Hr 4 Min)
- Can You Live On Dividends From Your Portfolio? (A Wealth of Common Sense)
- Monte Carlo Simulations: Forecasting Folly? (Finominal, paywall)
- Revisiting Return Stacking & Portable Alpha - w Corey Hoffstein (The trade buster - 1 Hr 9 Min)
Should You Invest in Stocks at All-Time Highs? (Of Dollars and Data)
With the U.S. stock market hitting four new all-time highs last week, the question on many investors’ minds is, “Is now a good time to buy stocks?” I understand the sentiment. Buying near all-time highs feels like a bad decision because you know you aren’t necessarily getting a bargain. Compare this to investing when markets are 20% off their highs. In that scenario, you will, at a minimum, earn 25% if the market eventually recovers its old highs. But what does the data say about buying near all-time highs?
Read more on Of Dollars and Data
UNDERSTAND FINANCIAL MARKETS
Is the S&P 500 Overvalued? (Aswath Damodaran)
At the start of 2023, dark clouds were gathering. Inflation was out of control and a recession seemed imminent, but the S&P 500 surprised us all by delivering a 26% return. That recovery was uneven, with seven stocks accounting for a big portion of the gain. The 2024 outlook is much sunnier. The expected return (8.48%) and the equity risk premium (4.60%) for the S&P 500 do not set off red flags, by themselves, but an intrinsic value of the index leads me to conclude that stocks are over valued by about 9%, to start the year.
Read more on Aswath Damodaran
HOW TO INVEST
Active Investing
FACTOR investing
The noisiness of Financial Factors (FT) - Click on First link.
Last summer, three researchers published an interesting paper that hammered home the importance of good data, and how subtle input changes (inadvertent or deliberate) can radically alter the conclusion.
The paper — “Noisy Factors”, by Pat Akey, Adriana Robertson and Mikhail Simutin — showed how the returns of several big theoretical drivers of investment returns could vary wildly depending just on what timeframe one measured.
Read more on FT (Click First Link)
BlackRock's systematic framework to factor tilting (Blackrock)
Factors are long run drivers of portfolio risk and returns. Having strategic allocations to factors may increase a portfolio’s expected return. As factor performance is cyclical, investors may be able to drive additional alpha in portfolios by tilting towards factors in a systematic way. Tilting decisions to any factor can be driven by the current economic regime or valuations.
Dividends vs backbuy account ? (JulianKlymochko)
There are hundreds of “dividend guy” social media accounts. However, there are very few “buyback guy” accounts, which is nonsensical, given buybacks represent about twice the shareholder returns of dividends
Read more on X
discretionary investing
ALTERNATIVE ASSET CLASSES
Has the Bitcoin ETF launch been an anti-climax? (FT) - Click On Second Link
Has the Bitcoin ETF launch been an anti-climax? Most of the inflows come from Greyscale outflows. Also, 3 days in and Bitcoin ETFs have pulled in net new assets of just under $900mn.
That’s less than the $1bn that ProShares pulled in on its first two days after launching a bitcoin futures ETF back in October 2021.
Read more on FT (Click Second Link)
WALL STREET
Crown to Dust - Downfall of America's Largest Bank | Citibank Documentary. (FinAIus - 46 min)
Citibank: once a kingmaker, now a cautionary tale. Welcome to Bailout Boulevard! We dig through the wreckage of America’s largest bank, tracing the greed from Wall Street penthouses to boarded-up Main Streets. “Crown to Dust” exposes the hubris that brought an empire to its knees, leaving a nation gasping for air. Buckle up, it’s a thrilling ride you won’t want to miss.
This week, we speak with Matt Levine, Opinion columnist at Bloomberg. He is the author of Money Stuff, one of the most popular daily newsletters on Wall Street. Previously, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton.
SUSTAINABLE investing
BAD BETS
❤️🐶 Shop & Support - Celebrate our 4th anniversary! 4️⃣🎂
Spread the Golden Retriever Wisdom Across Europe & the UK 😎
Banker On Wheels is 4 years old! To celebrate our anniversary we have launched the official merchandise store – Shop.Bankeronwheels.com. You can now get your favourite Golden Retriever, or your factor tilt on a coffee mug or a T-Shirt while supporting our cause! All profits are reinvested into creating more educational content. Alternatively, you can also buy us a coffee. Thank you for all your support ❤️
ETFs
UCITS ETFS
Overview of the US and European ETF markets by leading Issuers. (ETFBook)
ETF Book Provided an updated overview of the US and European ETF markets by leading Issuers. US ETF market: AUM $7.96 trillion – European ETF market: AUM $1.81 trillion. iShares is leading in the US, but Vanguard is closing the gap. In Europe, iShares is much more dominant.
US ETFs
BlackRock is set to launch ten ETFs focused on Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS). Ranging in maturity from 2024 to 2033, these ETFs will seek to provide inflation protection to investors concerned with erosion of purchasing power. The new TIPS-defined maturity bond ETFs will carry an expense ratio of 0.1%. [ETF.com]
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Wealth Management
Personal Finance
Are You in the One Percent? (Patrick Boyle - 31 Min)
How much do you need to earn per year to be in the top 1%? The answer to this question varies depending on if you are asking about the 1% in a given country or globally?
In today’s video we discuss how much you have to earn and how wealthy you have to be to be considered in the top one percent. We discuss the careers and lifestyles of the one percent. We look at inequality research to try to understand if inequality is actually growing as much as researchers like Thomas Piketty say it is.
Jared’s back on the podcast to talk about his book, No Worries: How to live a stress-free financial life, which just released yesterday. Jared talks about the 80/20 rule applied to personal finance, his “no worries” approach to investing, which he calls the awesome portfolio, and I bet you’ll be surprised by which asset has performed best since 2000.
Scott has just penned a new book, Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships, which serves as a guide for finding happiness while steering through money and love. We break down the psychology of tightwad and spendthrift behaviours, how these two personality types interact with one another in relationships & the myths of financial infidelity.
Where Do the World’s Wealthiest People Live? (Visual Capitalist)
From UBS and Credit Suisse’s comprehensive Global Wealth Report 2023, we visualize the world’s millionaire population by country. Their databook details the sources they used, including household balance sheet data from the World Bank, the World Income Inequality Database, surveys, tax data, and Forbes’ findings.
UBS defines millionaires as individuals whose total wealth (including financial and non-financial assets, minus household debt) is at or above $1 million, using “smoothed exchange rates.” These are 2021 average currency exchange rates with the U.S. dollar, adjusted for inflation differences between the U.S. and concerned country, but not adjusted for U.S. inflation between 2021 and 2022.
Read more on Visual Capitalist
Early Retirement
Does the 4% rule still work? In our conversation, experts shed light on the intricate world of retirement income planning, dispelling misconceptions and advocating for a more nuanced approach. Unpack the complexities of investing in bonds for retirees and the evolving risk profiles of stocks over varying investment horizons.
Ranked: The Top 25 Countries for Retirement (Visual Capitalist)
In 1881, Otto von Bismarck proposed a radical idea for retirement: people above the age of 70 would be given a state pension, encouraging them to stop working. This model has since been adopted en masse and most countries now have a retirement age, after which workers can claim benefits paid through years of their work. However, modern-day retirement is much more than just finances. Wealth management company Natixis analyzed 44 nations on four main categories affecting the ability for their residents to retire well in the 2023 Global Retirement Index. Each category has subindices, from which they averaged scores out of 100 to create this ranking.
Read more on Visual Capitalist
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As of 29/03/2024, Interactive Brokers offers rates up to 4.738% (GBP), 3.445% (EUR) and 4.83% (USD) on cash.
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As of 29/03/2024, Interactive Brokers offers rates up to 4.738% (GBP), 3.445% (EUR) and 4.83% (USD) on cash.
DESIGN YOUR LIFESTYLE
Personal Development
Greg McKeown is currently doing a doctorate at The University of Cambridge, and he is easily one of Tim’s favourite thinkers on all things related to effectiveness, efficiency, and—at the end of the day—quality of life. Originally from London, England, Greg and his wife, Anna, are parents to four children.
Health & Wellness
CAREERS & Entrepreneurship
Noah Kagan (@noahkagan) was #30 at Facebook, #4 at Mint, and has since created seven million-dollar businesses (Kickflip/Gambit, AppSumo, KingSumo, SendFox, Sumo, TidyCal, and Monthly1k).
He is the CEO of AppSumo.com, the #1 software-deals site for entrepreneurs, and has a popular YouTube channel, Noah Kagan.
The 4 things it takes to be an expert (Veritasium - 18 Min)
The four things are:
1. Valid environment
2. Many repetitions
3. Timely feedback
4. Deliberate practice
Travel
Curious pedals – cycling from finland to singapore (video) (Bikepacking.com - 1 Hr 11 Min)
In 2022, friends Alvari Poikola and Valtteri Heinilä pedaled 15,000 kilometers across more than 20 countries, departing from their home in Finland and completing their ride in Singapore. “Curious Pedals” is a feature-length documentary about their incredible eight-month journey across Europe and Asia.
The balkans: bikepacking albania and montenegro (video) (Bikepacking.com)
“The Balkans” is a 30-minute video from More Stories Tomorrow that follows three friends on a bikepacking journey across enchanting Albania and Montenegro.
Read more on Bikepacking.com
Tech & Economy
economy
Something Terrible Is Happening in France (Economics Explained - 19 Min)
France’s problems arguably go back 200 years to their slow and steady approach to adopting industrialisation. While many other countries can learn from France’s strong protection for workers’ rights, at the moment this has made France a very uncompetitive country with some of the worst brain drain across the EU.
TECH AND SCIENCE
From Bankeronwheels.com
Get Wise The Most Relevant Independent Weekly Insights For Individual Investors In Europe & the UK
Liked the quality of our guides? There is more. Every week we release new guides, tools and compile the best insights from all corners of the web related to investing, early retirement & lifestyle along with exclusive articles, and way more. Probably the best newsletter for Individual Investors in Europe and the UK. Try it. Feel free to unsubscribe at any time.
🎁 In the first email, you can download a FREE comprehensive 2-page checklist to construct & monitor your portfolio and clean up your personal finances.
And finally
On Jan. 5, the plug door of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 blew out mid-flight, forcing the plane into an emergency landings with a large hole in fuselage. Miraculously, nobody was hurt or killed, but it could have been a disaster. And it was the latest in the persistent string of mechanical and engineering setbacks that have plagued Boeing over the last six years. So what’s wrong with Boeing?
What’s The Future For Bankeronwheels.com? 2023 Year-end Survey Results. (Banker on Wheels)
Bankeronwheels.com, born during the COVID pandemic, began as a personal blog blending cycling with investing insights.
By 2023, the blog had exceeded any growth expectations we had. Today, we want to make the blog the most impactful to our readers.
And there was no better than asking your opinion on how to bring it to the next level. Here are some takeaways from our last month’s survey.
Good Luck and Keep’em* Rolling!
(* Wheels & Dividends)
Weekend Reading – BlackRock Launches New iBonds, Truth About €1M Broker Insurance & BOW is 4 years old!
The Truth About €1 Million Broker Guarantees
4 Things I Learned In 4 Years Of Running A Finance Blog
Dodl By AJ Bell Review – AJ Bell’s Younger Brother
Vanguard LifeStrategy Review – A Retriever In A Babushka Doll
Why Do Portfolio Managers Care About Factors? It’s Not What You Think.
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