Weekend Reading – Preparing Your Portfolio For 2025
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:
Life is like a race. The one who keeps running wins the race.
Featured
The Long Game in 2025 – Asset Class Returns & ETF Landscape (Banker on Wheels)
In 1962, Kennedy wisely remarked, “The best time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” The same goes for investing: the best (only?) time to prepare your portfolio for rough times is during a strong market—like today. True wisdom lies in studying how assets have performed in the past and building a portfolio ready to weather any storm. This exercise is designed to help you do just that. Let’s get started.
Portfolio Construction
Asset Allocation
In this episode of "Two Quants and a Financial Planner," we explore one of investing's most debated topics: international diversification. Through clips from 10 different investing experts, we examine whether U.S. investors truly need international exposure in their portfolios. Featuring insights from renowned investors and experts including Corey Hoffstein, Meb Faber, Dan Rasmussen, Larry Swedroe, Cullen Roche, Dan Villalon, Rick Ferri, Jason Buck, Mike Green, and Andy Constan, this episode offers a nuanced look at the complexities of global investing and helps viewers understand the various approaches to international diversification.
Understand Financial Markets
A Guide for Investment Analysts: Toward a Longer View of US Financial Markets (CFA Institute)
Understanding the historical context of financial markets is crucial for investment professionals seeking to make informed decisions in today’s complex landscape. This exploration of historical data stretching back more than 230 years reveals how markets have evolved and how continuity and change shape investment opportunities. The audience again is the analyst who plans to work with this older data and needs to know more about the historical context.
Aswath Damodaran is a Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University, where he teaches corporate finance and equity valuation. He is known in the investment industry and academia as the Dean of Equity Valuation. During this podcast, we will discuss his teaching career, investment philosophy, the equity risk premium in the US and international stocks, index funds, factor investing, and how artificial intelligence is changing the field of finance and changing us.
How To Invest
Investing for 2025 with Dr. Wes Gray (Alpha Architect)
How to invest in 2025? If you're setting goals for the new year, one of them might be to start investing, improve your investment strategy, or simply manage your money more effectively in 2025. To help, we’ve invited our CEO and CIO, Wes Gray, to share insights on how he started his investing journey, the opportunities he sees for 2025 and beyond, and key considerations for investors.
Active Investing
Factor Investing
Today’s guest is Matthias Hanauer, a researcher on Robeco’s Quant Equity Research team. In today’s episode, we discuss the intricacies of value investing, the impact of various factors such as interest rates and market conditions, and the potential for emerging markets and small cap stocks going forward. Matthias highlights his research on the ‘Factor Zoo,’ the integration of machine learning in investment strategies, the evolution of quantitative investing, and more. We discuss: the state of value investing, the value investing's relationship with interest rate, growth stocks vs. value stocks and much more!
- The Greatest Scourge in Factorland: Revaluation Alpha = Fake Alpha (JPM Series) (Research Affiliates)
- The Best Strategies for FX Hedging (SSRN)
- Growth is from Mars, value is from Venus (Acadian)
- Combining Trend-Following and Long-Short Quality (Man Group)
- Paying Attention to Investment Factors? You Should Be (Morningstar)
- History of Managed Futures (RCM Alternatives)
Discretionary Investing
- Does Dividend Investing Still Work? (Morningstar)
- Crossing Continents: Opportunities in International Equities (Polen Capital)
- The forgotten stimulus - uncovering the revival of Europe's peripheral markets (FTSE Russell)
- Institutional Investment in Space Could Skyrocket as Starman Influence Takes Off (Institutional Investor)
Alternative Asset Classes
Inside Wall Street’s booming $1tn ‘synthetic risk transfer’ phenomenon (FT)
If you're interested in how credit risk gets transferred to hedge funds (jnr tranches) this is an intersting piece. Why is it an interesting construct? If done right a hedge fund will take losses or blow up and your bank won't be affected. But wrong incentives (origination fees worse credit quality) can make this problematic if pushed to the limits. Obviously not an exposure you necessairly want to have as an investor since it's correlated to equities.
Wall Street
Report on The Asset Management Industry in Europe (Efama)
This is the 16th edition of EFAMA’s Asset Management Report, which offers a comprehensive analysis of the current state and recent trends in the European asset management industry. This year’s report highlights impressive growth and emerging challenges for the industry. While assets under management (AUM) are projected to reach a record EUR 33 trillion in 2024—an extraordinary milestone.
- Cliff Asness on Equity Investing, Taxes and AI (Bloomberg)
- Examining the LSExodus (FT)
- The relentless advance of American asset managers in Europe (FT)
- Debunking one of the accepted myths about how Buffett values companies (Flyover Stocks)
- Fran Kinniry on The Past, Present & Future of Vanguard (Meb Faber)
Bad Bets
ETFs
UCITS ETFs
European ETFs Landscape: Listings And Distribution (PWC)
This document provides an in-depth analysis of trends in the European ETF market. It highlights significant growth in EU-domiciled ETFs, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7% since 2014, reaching €1.7 trillion in assets under management by mid-2024. Key markets for new ETF registrations include Luxembourg, Israel, Singapore, and Chile, showcasing global expansion.
US ETFs
Wealth Management
Personal Finance
- Understand & Apply the Psychology of Money to Gain Greater Happiness (Huberman Lab)
- How Much of a Good Thing is Too Much? Victor Haghani (Patrick Boyle)
- The Cost of Ego (Colossus)
- What's Your Money Script? (Morningstar)
- UK: Here's why 2025 could be start of the 'Great Downsizing,' says ANDREW OXLADE (This is money)
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(Early) Retirement
How Much Does Having The ‘Right’ Capital Market Assumptions Matter In Retirement Planning? (Kitces)
"How much can I spend in retirement?" is perhaps the most fundamental question a client brings to their advisor. Answering it well requires a range of assumptions – from estimating average investment returns to understanding correlations across asset classes. These assumptions are rooted in Capital Market Assumptions (CMAs), which project how different assets might perform in the future.
Financial Advice
Design Your Lifestyle
Personal Development
Careers & Entrepreneurship
This time around, we have a bit of a different format, featuring the book that started it all, The 4-Hour Workweek, which was published in 2007. It’s crazy to think that the 20th anniversary is around the corner. This episode features three chapters from the audiobook of The 4-Hour Workweek that are time-tested. They represent tools and frameworks that have changed my life and that I still use today.
Travel
Tech & Economy
Economy
- Who Contributes the Most to the EU Budget? (Visual Capitalist)
- Hard Times - The Great Depression. (Patrick Boyle)
- How Africa’s Biggest Economy Lost 50% of Its GDP (Economics Explained)
- Top 20 Countries by Average vs. Median Wealth (Visual Capitalist)
- How Iceland Lost 50% of Its GDP, And Recovered (Economics Explained)
- A Visualization of Europe's Non-Bubbly Economy (The Geek Way)
Tech & Science
And Finally
Good Luck and Keep’em* Rolling!
(* Wheels & Dividends)
Trade Wars, Real Wars, but Equities Close To All-Time Highs: Is It A Good Time To Invest?
7 Reasons Why Japan May Be Your Next Cycling Adventure
Nomads in 2026: Genki vs SafetyWing – Which Travel Insurance Wins?
How You Can Cycle The World – A Practical Guide
Weekend Reading – Vanguard Cuts Fees across 15 ETFs & IBKR launches prediction markets
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