Dennis Morton

Making Decisions Based on Past Performance

March 15, 2019 / in Investing / by Dennis Morton

The first decade of the 21st century has been called a “Lost Decade” for investors. During that time, the U.S. stock market went through two bear markets before ending up flat for a ten-year period. This month marks the anniversary of a robust rebound. A regression to the mean known as a “Found Decade.” In […]

Why Should I Invest In That?

February 19, 2019 / in Investing / by Dennis Morton

If we were to take a year-end snapshot of the performance of all types of investments (stocks, bonds, real estate, cash), there would always be an array of winners and losers. Sometimes stocks will outperform bonds by a wide margin, but the opposite has also been true. The dangerous part about looking at such a […]

What Is A Financial Advisor?

February 2, 2019 / in Role of an Advisor / by Dennis Morton

It should be clear, but it isn’t. When I attend networking events, it seems that everyone has “Financial Advisor” written somewhere on their business card. Why? Because, as Willie Sutton supposedly said about why he robbed banks, “That’s where the money is.” There is a false equivalence, though. A belief that because we all call ourselves something that we are […]

Questions to Ask When Hiring a Financial Advisor

January 25, 2019 / in Role of an Advisor / by Dennis Morton

When someone reaches the point when they need financial advice, the idea of interviewing a professional is intimidating. For many years, we met with people who admitted that they did not know what to ask and were making decisions on hiring a financial advisor based on their gut. You can imagine the risk in that. […]

Focus, Not Concentration

November 25, 2018 / in Investing / by Dennis Morton

To focus is to have clarity on what is and what isn’t. It is to know what is relevant and what can be ignored. To concentrate is to put all of one’s energy and resources into one place. Investors are rewarded for focusing on what is important, penalized for concentration. This year if you concentrated […]

Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke

August 17, 2018 / in Behavioral / by Dennis Morton

Sometimes the stock market has been referred to as a “casino”. As investors, then, who better to learn from than a champion poker player like Ms. Duke? Book Review: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke Truthfully, Annie Duke has written a very well-researched book on the role of skill and chance in determining any outcome. […]

Hedge Funds vs The Patience to Get Rich Slowly

June 26, 2018 / in Behavioral / by Dennis Morton

Bloomberg featured a research report on why hedge funds continue to attract investors despite lackluster performance. Because of their complexity and secrecy, hedge funds have an attraction that appeals to our illusion of control. We don’t want to believe that investing is as simple as having low-cost, broad exposure to a lot of different assets. […]