One year ago, I wrote an article that discussed Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). TIPS are important because they provide the best protection against inflation among the universe of fixed-income securities.
Current Articles
March 19, 2005
TIPS Revisited
January 30, 2005
Credit Spread Risk and Your Portfolio
There are several risks universally associated with investments in fixed-income securities. Some of these risks include default risk, liquidity risk, reinvestment risk and interest rate risk. For United States Treasury securities; however, the market considers these fixed-income securities to be free of default risk. Investors, therefore, require that bonds issued by entities other than the federal government carry a premium yield-to-maturity so they can be compensated for the added default risk. This premium, called the credit spread, is the extra yield investors require for taking on the added default risk associated with investing in corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed agency bonds.
November 21, 2004
Looking Ahead to 2005
There are a few conflicting historical stock market phenomena pertinent to 2005, which is a post-election year and the fifth year of this decade. The S&P 500 index has performed remarkably well in the fifth year of decades since 1881. The index, however, has performed below average in years following an election, except when the incumbent President stays in power or when the post-election year is the fifth year of a decade.
October 15, 2004
Pay to Play
There is an inherent conflict of interest when a person giving investment advice also works for a sell-side investment company (i.e. a brokerage) that manages mutual funds. Often, their advice will include their company's own mutual fund offerings regardless of the funds' merits (or lack thereof). This biased advice can diminish investors' portfolio returns.
July 22, 2004
Learning from Prior Equity Market Patterns
In the world of investments, historical data often help investment managers predict the future performance of the markets. My colleagues and I searched for periods with similar characteristics to today to help guide our investment decision-making during this period of almost inexplicably weak equity markets (although the high price of oil seems to have been taxing the markets recently). We found an eerily similar period with many significantly similar characteristics.
March 21, 2004
TIPS, Inflation and Your Portfolio
Inflation is a fixed-income portfolio's silent enemy. Someone who invests $10,000 in 10-year treasury bonds with a five percent coupon per year receives two payments of $250 per year throughout the maturity of the bond. Unfortunately, inflation can quietly erode the real value of those fixed interest payments.